Why a focus on public funding for public goods? Cross Party Group in the Scottish Parliament on Rural Policy 28th November 2018, Dynamic Earth, Edinburgh Why a focus on public funding for public goods? Davy McCracken Head of SRUC’s Hill & Mountain Research Centre davy.mccracken@sruc.ac.uk https://twitter.com/DavyMcCracken

Rewarding the delivery of public goods? Need to be cost-effective and transparent General support for farmers and other land managers? Historic agri-environment prescriptive approaches? Outcome/Results based approaches? Combination of all three above?

Pressures on biodiversity: landscape simplification - uplands 1994-2016 Increasing: Cuckoo (+108%) Raven (+93%) Snipe (+22%) Declining Curlew (-61%) Dotterel (-60%) Black Grouse (-53%) Golden Plover (-43%) Hooded Crow (-38%) https://www.nature.scot/sites/default/files/2018-02/Official%20Statistics%20-%20Terrestrial%20Breeding%20Birds%20-%20Index%20of%20abundance%201994-2016.pdf

Water Quality Detailed up-to-date data on individual rivers can be obtained at: https://www.environment.gov.scot/our-environment/state-of-the-environment/ecosystem-health-indicators/condition-indicators/indicator-6-freshwater/

Water Quantity

Wider countryside: peatlands Extent in uplands stable but some decreases in plant species richness and many emitting rather than sequestering carbon

Wider countryside: native woodlands (NWS 2014) Further details can be obtained at: https://www.environment.gov.scot/our-environment/state-of-the-environment/ecosystem-health-indicators/condition-indicators/indicator-3-forests/ This map of native woodland condition shows for different regions of Scotland the broad results of Forestry Commission’s survey carried out from 2006-2013 for native woodlands (i.e. with >50% native species in the canopy). It combines four condition attributes: canopy cover, % of canopy comprising native species, herbivore impact, and invasive non-native species for all of Scotland, with 39.3 % of woodlands being in Satisfactory condition (Blue in the pie-charts), 46.1 % in Unsatisfactory condition (Orange), 3.7 % Nearly-native woodland (Grey) and 10.9 % Planted Ancient Woodland sites (PAWS in Purple).

What future for woodland and forestry in Scotland? https://www.sruc.ac.uk/downloads/file/3188/section_1_changing_land_management_rsif_2016_pages_8-112

Range of public goods which hill farming & crofting has a role in providing: Maintaining cultural heritage Improving water quality Maintaining landscapes for tourism Maintaining safe access routes for hill walkers Protecting carbon stocks in soil & vegetation Reducing flood risk Preventing and controlling wildfires Maintaining habitats and wildlife species Supporting wider Scottish economy Increasing woodland cover Supporting rural communities Maintaining good quality food production Ecosystem Approach Maintaining the land for future generations Maintaining local employment opportunities

Rewarding the delivery of public goods in Scotland?: Focus Funding Facilitation Flexibility

28th -29th November 2018 https://www.sruc.ac.uk/info/120470/land_use_conference

Innovation = Doing Things Differently Biological Sciences Engineering & Technology Systems & ecology Knowledge Transfer For more detail see: http://www.sruc.ac.uk/news/120252/hill_and_mountain_research_centre

Acknowledgements SRUC receives research funding from the Rural & Environment Science & Analytical Services Division of the Scottish Government through their 2011-2016 and 2016-2021 Strategic Research Programmes Additional funders of research from 2016 onwards include: The European Commission’s H2020 Research & Innovation Programme Defra under the ERA-NET SusAn (Sustainable Animal Production) Programme Global Food Security’s ‘Resilience of the UK Food System Programme’, with support from BBSRC, ESRC, NERC and Scottish Government.