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Environment committee seeks advice on inquiry topics |
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Thursday, 28 June 2007 |
The Parliament's newly established Rural Affairs and Environment Committee has invited the public to suggest topics for the Committee to inquire into as part of its work programme for the coming year.
Suggestions for inquiry topics have already been proposed by Committee
members, but they also want input from organisations and individuals
working "at the sharp end" in farming, fishing or the environment
sector on what the Committee's inquiry priorities should be.
Convener Roseanna Cunningham said: "This Committee has a broad remit
covering everything from fishing quotas, support for farmers and
protecting biodiversity. We don't expect to spend as much of our time
scrutinising Executive legislation as committees in previous sessions
have had to do. This gives us a real opportunity to set the agenda with
inquiry topics of our own choosing.
"But we still need to select topics carefully to ensure we use the time and resources available to best effect.
"We won't of course be able to conduct inquiries on every topic that is
suggested, but they will all be considered, and I'm sure the discussion
will be much better informed as a result."
Topics already suggested by Committee members include agricultural
regulation and support; the marine environment and the role of the
Crown Estate; promotion of local food and the organic sector;
post-legislative scrutiny of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003; rural
deprivation and rural housing; biodiversity; flood management; forestry
and waste management.
People wishing to take up the Committee's invitation should write to
the committee clerk indicating briefly the inquiry topic that is
proposed and why it is important, by the deadline of July 31.
Topics should concern matters that are within the Committee's remit and
that are within the devolved responsibilities of the Scottish
Parliament or the Scottish Executive.
Readers have left 5 comments. 1. District Heating
Jim Grant, Unregistered Investigate the use of energy recovery from waste as a catalyst to the provision of District Heating which would then enable recovery of the energy dumped from our power stations. Power stations currently only utilise around 40% of the energy they produce, and you are asking the consumer to switch off a light bulb. 2. Cockling
Duncan John Irving, Unregistered I should like the Rural Affairs & Environment Committee to reconsider the arrangements for controlling cockling in the Solway Firth. The damage that has already been done to the silt substrate, in which cockles live, should be measured and published so that the viability of future cockling can be based on the state of this habitat and not just on the current cockle population. 3. Climate change
Duncan John Irving, Unregistered I should like the Rural Affairs & Environment Committee to initiate fieldwork that will produce more scientifically gathered data to show how future climate change will affect populations of Scottish land birds. 4. Seabird numbers
Duncan John Irving, Unregistered I should like the Rural Affairs & Environment Committee to initiate more research into why many coastal areas in Scotland have undergone declines in some seabird populations. 5. REGENERATION GAME
***maryvarmstrong***, Unregistered Uphill Struggle to Uphill Solution
Policy & Funding for the Hills
REGENERATION GAME?
BEFORE the Clearances there were 400 crofters on Rum. Nowadays the population is 32 and falling. Ownership by SNH claims to have protected the island's natural heritage, but at what cost, after their POLICIES & FUNDING to get rid of the sheep then the horrific cull of deer this Spring? What cost to its people too?
BEFORE the Clearances by Forestry Commission, and SNH et al in the Galloway Hills too, there were communities strong; based on time-tested hill farming, communities of rich wildlife and PEOPLE TOO.
"Regen..." was the "justification" for the Clearance of the last of the grazing animals (the deer already gone) off 7770 acres of Buchan & Glenhead, Glentrool, last September; Wullie Laurie's "tick mop" Blackface hefted flock finally evicted off the Buchan braes, despite the "Promise for Future in Partnership in Hillfarming by Forest Enterprise" 10 years ago.
"Regen" this September, is for a pickle of dead trees, imported unthriven saplings strangled in tangled brushwood scrub, bracken and rashes.....Regeneration indeed! ....and was it coincidence that this summer a young local boy clambering near the undergrowth at the Buchan became the first known local victim to tick-borne Lyme disease?. Now with the hills empty and the tracks gone, do the hills sound inviting for eco-tourism? "Rural Regeneration Glentrool"? Welcome Scotland to the regeneration game!!!!
....written after the pre-Merrick car Rally visit to Regenerate Glentrool by the Forestry & Minister of Environment (AgriCULTURE too?) Michael Russell MSP
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