New beaver strategy for Scotland - NatureScot
Issued on behalf of Scotland's Beaver Strategy Organising Team
A national strategy has been published setting out a route map for beavers in Scotland over the coming decades.
The development of Scotland’s Beaver Strategy 2022-2045 has involved more than 50 stakeholder organisations, representing one of the most ambitious and forward-looking approaches to managing and conserving a species ever carried out in Britain.
The strategy will steer wider efforts to identify and actively expand the population to new catchments, alongside appropriate management and mitigation, following the Scottish Government’s change in policy to encourage wider beaver restoration.
It sets out plans to empower and support communities to maximise the environmental and wider benefits of beavers, while minimising negative impacts through effective management and mitigation.
The strategy highlights the need for ongoing research and monitoring of the beaver population and its effects to inform and improve management as the population expands, using existing and new techniques and technologies. This will also help identify how people, and ecosystems, can most benefit from the presence of beavers.
The strategy was developed collaboratively under a process designed and led by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Conservation Planning Specialist Group (CPSG).
A cross-stakeholder organising team including representatives from NatureScot, National Farmers Union of Scotland, Scottish Wildlife Trust, Scottish Land & Estates and the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland helped to steer the process, and the document was produced through the direct involvement of stakeholder groups and individuals from a wide variety of sectors.
A new Scottish Beaver Advisory Group, made up of key organisations, will now work together to help take the strategy forward.
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Posted On: 21/09/2022