A pair of billboards appeared on Edinburgh’s busy Market Street today with an urgent message for Scotland’s MSPs:
1 in 9 species in Scotland is at risk of extinction.
We need our MSPs to act now!
The billboards were created by the Scotland Loves Nature campaign, which calls on the Scottish government to set legally binding targets to restore nature.
The Natural Environment Bill, to be debated in the Scottish parliament this autumn, is a vital opportunity to ensure that strong nature recovery targets are set and that future Scottish governments are required to meet them.
MSPs from all political parties at Holyrood will have a say on the bill. Campaigners are calling on them to support strong targets and meaningful action for nature.
They hope many MSPs will see the billboards as they leave Edinburgh’s Waverley Station on their way to the parliament as they return from the summer recess.
Supporters of the Scotland Loves Nature campaign sent more than 13,000 emails to their MSPs last year calling for a Natural Environment Bill that would introduce legal targets for nature recovery. The bill was published in February this year.
The campaign is run by Scottish Environment LINK and is supported by more than 40 organisations, including RSPB Scotland, WWF Scotland, the Scottish Wildlife Trust and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland.