This article appears as part of the Winds of Change newsletter Only, surely, in the surreal world of government accountancy would it ever be the case that nature has to lose out because public sector workers need to be paid a decent wage. But such appeared to be the case when it was revealed last weekend that Scotland’s Nature Restoration Fund, created for projects that restore wildlife and habitats on land and sea and address the twin crises of biodiversity loss and climate change , was being plundered to that purpose. Scottish ministers, it was reported, had written to councils telling them to divert the current year’s allocations from the Nature Restoration Fund to settle pay deals.
With the threat of refuse and recycling workers going on strike, this money could be used to cover the 3.6% increase for all grades, and more significant rise for the lowest paid. This pitching of nature against pay and refuse collection seemed both absurd, but also symbolic of how we value nature – and how when it comes to funding and protection, the natural world upon which we depend, and are part of, loses out, or is deemed a luxury.
Commenting in a post on X, the co-leader of the Scottish Greens, Patrick Harvie, said: “The Nature Restoration Fund was one of the most important achievements of the Greens in government. Scotland is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world. The idea that we can't invest in nature and pay public sector workers fairly is false.
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