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Seabirds are Scotland's 'Great Barrier Reef'. We must save them from windfarm calamity (www.scotsman.com)

submitted 1 week ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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Offshore wind development is essential and urgent, but this emerging industry needs to be ‘nature positive’ from the get-go

Here in Scotland, we have a tendency to think that spectacular and important wildlife is for other parts of the world to enjoy and worry about. Australia has the Great Barrier Reef, Africa has lions, Antarctica has penguins... What do we have?

Well, Scotland is a mecca for the world’s seabirds. From the spectacular and riotous gannet colonies to the colourful and cute puffins nesting in their burrows, we are fortunate enough to share our seas and coasts with enormous colonies of globally important seabirds. If you haven’t yet enjoyed the spectacle of a colony at the height of the breeding season, get yourself on a boat around the Bass Rock now!

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 week ago

Some argue that the pursuit of growth should trump the needs of nature. That the conservation rules that protect seabirds are just red tape to be cut – like the protections for newts and bats that so many politicians and developers love to hate. But reducing the offshore wind dilemma to this false choice is disingenuous and will lead only to further conflict, delay and loss.

What is actually needed is leadership from governments and industry so that a way forward can be charted that allows offshore wind to grow in harmony with nature.

That means steering developments towards sites where they will have the lowest impact, and ensuring this emerging industry invests in the marine environment. Not just to compensating for any impact their turbines might have, but putting their funds and support behind efforts to restore our degraded seas and seabird colonies so that this emerging industry is “nature positive” from the get-go.

This is a good point. Expansion of renewables does not have to mean a negative impact on wildlife, if done properly.