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CHAPTER 7 : VISION AND FUTURE FOCUS
7.1 Scotland's soils are one of the Nation's greatest natural assets. In order to retain the soil's ability to contribute to environmental as well as economic and societal interests, the Scottish Government proposes to focus efforts in specific areas, which are set out in this section.
7.2 Figure 7.1 highlights the vision for the Scottish Soil Framework and the main aim and soil outcomes to which it will contribute. Priority work areas under which future activities will be concentrated are listed as well as stakeholders and delivery partners that are key to the delivery of the outcomes.
7.3 The Scottish Government's vision is that:
Soils are recognised as a vital part of our economy, environment and heritage to be safeguarded for existing and future generations in Scotland.
The main aim is:
To promote the sustainable management and protection of soils consistent with the economic, social and environmental needs of Scotland.
7.4 The Framework identifies a range of activities which will contribute to achieving soil outcomes. Critical is the need for Scottish Government to increase the awareness of soils and the emphasis placed on soils during policy development. This cross-cutting activity is vital to meet the ultimate aim of safeguarding Scotland's soils.
7.5 The publication of the Scottish Soil Framework will be the first important step to raise awareness, encouraging better policy integration. However, it is important that the Framework will be the start of a process during which future activities will be identified and taken forward with key delivery partners. Future efforts will not be limited to the fixed list of actions as presented in the Framework. The Scottish Government together with key delivery partners will continue to assess the effectiveness of soil policies in the light of new evidence, and in the context of climate change. In order to coordinate the relevant organisation's roles and responsibilities as well as to share resources and exchange information the Scottish Government will facilitate the liaison amongst delivery partners.
7.6 Key to all future efforts is the need to continue to engage closely with land managers to further improve soils awareness, and the research community to ensure that all activities are underpinned by sound evidence. As set out in Annex B, the Scottish Government funds a substantial research portfolio on Enhancing and Protecting the Nation's Soils. This reflects not only the key role that soils play in delivering both economic and environmental benefits, but also the lack of knowledge and scientific uncertainty on many fundamental soil processes. The full exploitation of the findings of soil research by relevant stakeholders when developing and reviewing policies will be a significant contribution to achieving sustainable soil management.
7.7 Figure 7.1 lists 11 soil outcomes to which the Scottish Soil Framework contributes. There is a high degree of connectivity between the outcomes, for example the protection of soil organic matter will help reduce erosion as well as greenhouse gas emissions. Equally, it is important to note that the four priority work areas will contribute to the achievement of several outcomes, and indeed that there is a significant interaction between the work areas themselves, e.g. policy integration depends on awareness and easy access to soil information.
7.8 The priority work areas, which will help achieve the outcomes are
- Awareness raising
- Policy integration
- Access to information
- Knowledge base
7.9 The following specific activities will contribute to achieving the outcomes. As outlined above, these activities are examples of where the future efforts will focus, but future efforts will not be limited to the activities included here.
Future activities
Overarching
The Scottish Government will identify ways to increase the awareness of soils and the emphasis placed on soils during all stage of policies development to safeguard Scottish soil.
Land Use and Management
- Common Agricultural Policy
In 2008, the Scottish Government will consult on the implications for Scotland of the Health Check of the Common Agricultural Policy, in consultation with external stakeholders, to deliver an effective outcome for Scotland. This will include proposed changes to Cross Compliance requirements.
- Scotland Rural Development Programme
The Scottish Government will evaluate the effectiveness of existing measures and, in the light of emerging research evidence, review soil measures as part of the SRDP. This will focus on measures helping to maintain and enhance carbon storage in soils and to restore and protect peatlands and also measures to protect water quality.
- Organic Materials to Land
The Scottish Government will seek to participate fully in the proposed review of the Sewage Sludge Directive taking into account latest research results on the impacts of metals on soils.
Research on the use of sewage sludge for land restoration and in forestry, funded by the Scottish Government and SEPA, will be completed in 2008; use of the findings to improve controls on these activities will be considered.
The Scottish Government will support SEPA in the delivery and annual reporting on risk based soil compliance monitoring of regulated activities involving use of organic materials on soils.
The Scottish Government is considering funding the development of a decision support system for farmers, similar to PLANET, giving understandable information on the planning and management of nutrient supply, including organic materials.
The Scottish Government will revise the Prevention of Pollution From Agricultural Activities Code, including specific soil protection advice.
Forestry Commission Scotland will complete the review of the UK Forest Standard and the Forests and Soils Guidelines, to ensure that they remain fit for purpose. These guidelines underpin the UK Forest Standard and are the key document in clarifying the relevant rules and forestry best practice to maintain and enhance soil quality.
There is currently no mechanism to gather and report data at national level on the loss of land to development. The Scottish Government will explore mechanisms to collect reliable data on the loss of land, in particular prime agricultural land, to development and in the light of this information consider the re-introduction of robust protection for prime agricultural land.
Due to increased pressures on land/soils being used for infrastructure development as well as for food and renewables production, such a collation of data would help to make informed decisions on which land/soils are best suited for each purpose.
The Scottish Government will review the Land Capability for Agriculture Assessment in the light of implications of climate change.
Water quality and Flooding
As part of new legislation on Flood Risk Management to be introduced in 2008, the Scottish Government will specifically consider the role soil management plays as part of sustainable flood risk management.
Conservation & Biodiversity
A high proportion of Scotland is covered by peat soils or soils with high organic matter content. These are important not only in terms of conservation, but also in terms of the rural industries they support, for example agriculture, sporting, recreation, tourism, as well as the ecosystem services they deliver, including carbon storage. Together with SNH, SEPA and other key stakeholders, the Scottish Government will consider ways to coordinate peat protection and restoration in Scotland.
Pollution
- Acidification & Eutrophication
Both the National Emission Ceilings Directive and the Protocols under the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe ( UNECE) Convention on Long Range Transboundary Air Pollution to abate acidification, eutrophication and ground level ozone, are to be reviewed in 2008. The Scottish Government will participate fully in these reviews to achieve an effective outcome for Scottish soils. The Scottish Government will also continue to support the development of cost-effective policies aimed at reducing critical load exceedance in Scotland as well as at UNECE and EU levels.
In 2008-09 the Scottish Government will support SEPA in the preparation and publication of a State of Contaminated Land Report.
The Report will set out to explain why contaminated land is an important issue in Scotland, highlight what progress has been made and what remains to be done. It aims to provide an objective view of contaminated land, the associated problems and how they are being addressed. By bringing former contaminated soils back into productive use, the contaminated land regime makes an important contribution to reducing pressure on our existing soil resource and its future protection.
Cultural Heritage
The Scottish Government, through Historic Scotland, will consider the need for specific historic environment guidance on soils and for more reference to soils in historic environment guidance in general. Archaeological and landscape works will continue to emphasise the potential for knowledge of past land use, environmental change and site formation conditions which resides in Scotland's soils.
Planning
- National Planning Guidance
National Planning Guidance will continue to give proper regard to soil issues and will look to Environmental Impact Assessments and Strategic Environmental Impact Assessment as appropriate to assess the significant environmental impacts of planning application and development plans.
- Strategic Environment Assessment
The Scottish Government together with SNH and SEPA will contribute to the current production of guidance on how to consider soils as part of the Strategic Environmental Assessment process.
Proposed EU Soil Framework Directive
The Scottish Government will actively participate in the negotiation of the EU Soil Framework Directive to achieve a proportionate and effective outcome for Scotland.
Climate Change
The Scottish Government will continue to quantify soil derived greenhouse gas emissions. In the light of new scientific evidence the contribution this sector could make to reducing overall emissions will be explored.
The Scottish Government will continue to support research on trends in soil organic matter and greenhouse gas emission from soils, and produce guidance for the sustainable use of soils and protection of soil carbon. There is a reasonably good understanding of the amount and distribution of carbon in Scottish soils, but a relatively poor knowledge of the rates of change of this store and the effects of land-use change and climatic factors.
The Forestry Commission will produce Forest Carbon Standards and Climate Change Guidelines to provide over-arching principles of good carbon management and standards for the forest industry. These will sit within the UK Forestry Standards and set out policy on sustainable forest management in the context of climate change.
Research, information and soil monitoring
There are benefits of making information on soils more widely accessible to stakeholders, providing them with better knowledge on the character and state of their local environment. Better access to a range of information sources could assist in changing behaviours through increased awareness and contribute to change towards more sustainable management of the valuable but vulnerable Scottish soils resource.
The Scottish Government will consider how best to make information on soils available at different geographical scales to a wider audience.
A common theme in recent assessments of Scotland's soil resource (1,34) was the lack of systematic baseline data and a lack of trend data on soil quality. Long term baseline data from field sites and/or national datasets are clearly essential for the assessment of future change and trends, meeting increased demands at national as well as European level for evidence and environmental reporting.
The Scottish Government will help to develop a soil monitoring network, taking account of Scottish Government funded research as well as findings of the UK Soil Indicators Consortium a.
Knowledge exchange and awareness raising
The Scottish Government will support SEPA in publishing a State of Scotland's Soils report in partnership with external organisations in 2011.
Together with the Main Research Providers, the Scottish Government will consider how best to make information from soils research accessible to the widest possible audience. The Scottish Government will also host a conference to publicise the outcomes of the existing programme of research work which it supports. This conference will be a forum in which the outcomes of the current Research Programme, Protecting and Enhancing the Nation's Soils, will be presented and discussed with stakeholders.
The Scottish Government will continue to support SEPA in providing training on soil protection to their staff and other organisations.
Forestry Commission Scotland will continue to work through Forest Research to develop best practice guidance to promote the understanding and delivery of soils protection measures in the forestry sector.
Stakeholder engagement - Soil Focus Group
The delivery of the aim of the Scottish Soil Framework depends on the co-operation of all relevant key players in this area. The Scottish Government will provide an informal platform for liaison amongst interested parties. Ways to link this forum to the existing Soils Consultative Group, which discusses soil research outcomes, will be explored.
Reporting and Review
This document will be reviewed after 5 years. Together with stakeholders, Scottish Government will produce regular reports to update stakeholders on relevant developments, where progress has been made and where next efforts need to lie.
Question 9. Views are invited on the vision and aims.
Question 10. Views are invited on the outcomes. Should we be adding additional outcomes?
Question 11. Views are invited on the four work areas under which future activities will be carried out.
Question 12. Have the right activities been identified to contribute to achieving the outcomes?
Question 13. Are additional activities required?
Question 14. Which activities need to be prioritised?
Question 15. What are your views on future stakeholder engagement?
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