• About us
• What we do
• Management team
• SEPA Board
• Stakeholders
• SEPA Performs
• News
• Weekly update
• Publications
• Service Charter
• Policies
• Consultations
• Charging schemes
• Greening SEPA
• Procurement
• External links
• Dealing with us
• Contacting SEPA
• Access to Information
• Vacancies
• Official Statistics
• Air
• Climate change
• Flooding
• Land
• Planning
• Radioactive substances
• Waste
• Water
• Science and research
• Customer information...
• SEPA Kids

Managing our climate, water and soil takes centre stage at joint SAC / SEPA conference

EXT01 – B03

With the future of our climate, our water and our soil all under the microscope the eighth joint conference of the Scottish Agricultural College (SAC) and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) will be examining how global changes in climate affect Scotland at national, landscape and local scales.

Over the next two days (31 March – 1 April) the biennial conference, taking place at Pollock Halls, Edinburgh, will bring together leading experts with an important audience including land managers and policy makers to address the science and policy surrounding the management of climate, water and soils in a rapidly changing economic and natural environment. It will present the best available science and research knowledge and provide a forum to raise and discuss ways in which policy needs to be adapted to meet future challenges.  

This conference is well timed with the current development of the Scottish Government's first Land Use Strategy, which offers a landmark opportunity to consider how Scotland's land is used for generations to come. It also coincides with publication of the Diffuse Pollution Implementation Plan; Scotland's first nationally coordinated approach to reduce diffuse pollution, produced by the Diffuse Pollution Management Advisory Group (DPMAG). Among the many initiatives, the plan includes work on reducing diffuse pollution in 14 priority catchments in Scotland aimed at improving waters that are failing to meet environmental and human health standards due to a variety of pollutants.

The quality of Scotland's environment is a key asset and its continuing health and improvement is fundamental to sustainable economic growth. The impacts of climate change are already beginning to be felt across all areas and aspects of Scotland's environment, and at all levels of society and economic activity. Climate change will increasingly govern the conditions under which land use is sustained and diffuse pollution mitigation, flood risk management, soil protection and biodiversity needs are other key areas which will increasingly influence land management.

Commenting on the conference, SEPA's Chief Executive, Dr Campbell Gemmell, said:

"These conferences are essential in helping us engage with land managers and their representatives and I am delighted to see that the changing climate is playing a key part in this year's discussions. 

"This is a very challenging time for all sectors of the Scottish economy and it's good to see the agricultural community is tackling the challenges head on. Understanding the interactions between climate, water and land issues is a pre-requisite for effective, well targeted policies, actions and solutions. I hope we can use the collective knowledge we gain from this conference to help create the conditions for a thriving agricultural sector and a high quality environment."

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead, who will provide the keynote address at the Conference, said:

"This year's conference reflects the way in which climate change has come to dominate the environmental agenda, an area in which Scotland is leading other nations with its challenging target to cut emissions by 42 per cent by 2020.

"Scotland is home to some of the finest quality rivers and lochs in Europe and our environment supports businesses, communities and puts food on our plates – and we are taking decisive action to safeguard our breathtaking surroundings for future generations.

"Under initiatives such as our Land Use Strategy, flooding and climate change legislation, river basin management plans, and pioneering food and fisheries policies, we are working with industry, local authorities, land managers and the public to rise to the challenge of making Scotland a world leader in sustainable development." 

Professor Bill McKelvey, SAC Principal and Chief Executive, will chair the final conference session 'Rising to the Challenge'. He said:

"One of the key aims of this conference is to identify future policy needs and the science developments required to help land managers address the many challenges facing them, not least from climate change.

"SAC's researchers and consultants have been supporting land managers adapting to these issues for some time. This week's gathering will allow us to share the knowledge gained by those in the wider research community across the UK and inform those responsible for deciding policy. Just as important, it will also allow us to debate future needs in policy and science".

Ends

Notes to editor

• Joanna Gardiner from SEPA Communications will be available on 07767 325226 and at the conference on the morning of Wednesday 31 March at the reception desk to coordinate any interview requests for SEPA staff. More information on the event can be found at www.sac.ac.uk/news/forthcomingevents/sacsepaconf
• The Climate Change (Scotland) Act 2009 requires a land use strategy to be laid by Scottish Ministers before the Scottish Parliament by 31 March 2011. The strategy must set out the Government's objectives in relation to sustainable land use, as well as proposals, policies and their associated timescales for meeting those. The objectives, proposals and policies must contribute to obligations under the Act on emissions reduction targets, to climate change adaptation objectives and to sustainable development.
• This year's conference comes just as the Diffuse Pollution Management Advisory Group (DPMAG) publishes its Diffuse Pollution Implementation Plan. DPMAG, with membership from fourteen organisations with rural, farming, forestry, environmental and biodiversity interests has been set up to help ensure the right partnership approach with land managers is adopted. The plan describes Scotland's first national coordinated approach to dealing with diffuse pollution. This approach comprises a major national awareness raising campaign for land managers and their advisors and a targeted approach in priority catchments which contain some of Scotland's most important waters for conservation, drinking water, bathing and fishing. The diffuse pollution priority catchment work, which is a part of the plan, is aimed at improving waters that are failing to meet environmental and human health standards in 14 catchments across Scotland due to a variety of pollutants. These waters need to improve to meet the ambitious targets we have set ourselves in the recently published river basin management plans, and we will need to work with land managers to identify the sources of the pollutants, deal with them and achieve these targets for Scotland. 
•  Biodiversity is Life - 2010 is the International Year of Biodiversity.  The diversity of life on earth is crucialfor human well-being and now is the time to act to preserve it.  For information on events, initiatives and exhibitions across the UK visit www.biodiversityislife.net/