The Scottish Government’s draft Natural Environment Bill was published on Wednesday 19th February.

The Natural Environment Bill goes alongside the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy and Delivery Plan 2024-2030 published in November 2024 and the Biodiversity Investment Plan. Together these strategies collectively represent Scotland’s overarching Biodiversity Framework and underpin the ambition to halt biodiversity loss and be nature positive by 2030, and to restore and regenerate biodiversity by 2045.

Along with 10 other organisations, CIEEM has written to the Prime Minister and Chancellor on the value of nature to the economy and society. The letter, delivered earlier this week, expresses our deep concern around the perceived conflict between growth and nature.

CIEEM has submitted our response to the Government’s Planning Reform Working Paper on Development and Nature Recovery in England.

CIEEM welcomes the Government’s intention to boost nature recovery whilst also making the development planning process more effective and efficient. However, there are a number of significant issues with the approach as currently proposed in the working paper, and a troubling lack of detail and clarity over how the Government sees the new approach working in practice.