The government should be following scientific advice as it determines its policies across the board, and particularly for environmental decisions. A priority for this Parliament’s environment-focused committees should be scrutinising the government’s commitment to sound scientific research in relation to man-made structures in the marine environment. Whether it is a decision about removing structures at the end of their life or deploying large scale arrays of renewable energy structure, we should utilise Scotland’s world-leading science to determine how these man-made materials can be used to mitigate the pressures on the marine ecosystem or the opportunities they provide for enhancing marine biodiversity. The influence of these man-made structures is hugely important to the blue economy and Parliament should prioritise investigating the role scientists play in this area.
This content is created by the open source Your Priorities citizen engagement platform designed by the non profit Citizens Foundation