Scotland’s Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 (SRDP) was officially approved by the European Commission in May 2015. The programme works within pillar two of the European Union Common Agricultural Policy.

The SRDP funds economic, social and environmental opportunities to benefit areas of rural Scotland. The central principle behind the programme is to attain sustainable economic growth in Scotland’s rural areas (The Scottish Government 2015).

Part of the SRDP provides funding to manage improvements to the countryside and environment.  Both habitat and wildlife distribution data is used to target and enhance the 38 SRDP agri-environment options in 2014 -2020 in the interest of biodiversity, climate change, water quality and flood management.

The use of biodiversity data in spatial targeting

In regards to managing improvements to the countryside and environment, the following example highlights how NBN Data assisted Scottish Natural Heritage to map the distributions of species to target and enhance the 38 SRDP agri-environment options.

A range of references including The Scottish Biodiversity List, the UK BAP list and species that have declined by more than 25% in the country were used to establish roughly 115 species that are adequately distributed to benefit from the SRDP management options. Species distribution records were accessed firstly through the National Biodiversity Network. Over seven million species records were retrieved through the NBN Gateway from numerous organisations. The most prominent data contributor was the Botanical Society of Britain and Ireland (Scottish Government and Scottish Natural Heritage 2015).

This case study demonstrates the use of biodiversity data in spatial targeting in order to attain the central aims of the SRDP.

To read more about the SRDP then please view the PDF of the document Scotland’s Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 – the use of biodiversity data in spatial targeting

Reference List

Scottish Government; Susie Turpie, Joanna Drewitt and Scottish Natural Heritage; Ed Mackey, Carmen Mayo, Colin McLeod, 2015. Scotland’s Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 – the use of biodiversity data in spatial targeting. Accessed 07/08/2015.

The Scottish Government, 2015. Scottish Rural Development Programme (SRDP) 2014 – 2020, http://www.gov.scot/Topics/farmingrural/SRDP, Accessed 07/08/2015.