Please view the latest version (v1.2) instead of this one (v1.1). Both versions hold the same spatial data.

Aim

This report aims at providing a strategic landscape restoration zonation in support of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, while addressing the “nexus” between biodiversity, water, agriculture and climate change.

Background

Global Biodiversity loss and climate change have emerged as dual crises with profound implications for ecosystems, human well-being, and global economies. The consequences are severe, with critical ecosystem services—such as climate regulation, water purification, and pollination—under increasing threat. Over half of the global GDP is dependent on nature, making biodiversity loss not only an ecological issue but also a significant threat to economic stability and human well-being.

Addressing this crisis requires transformative change, particularly through landscape-level planning and policies that embrace multifunctionality. Scotland serves as a pertinent case study, with its biodiversity and ecosystems facing significant pressures from intensive land use. Agricultural practices dominate 70% of Scotland’s land, contributing to habitat fragmentation, soil degradation, and reduced ecosystem resilience. Nature-Based Solutions (NBS) have emerged as a promising approach, offering the potential to restore ecosystems, mitigate climate change, and enhance economic and public health outcomes. However, implementing these solutions necessitates a strategic and spatially explicit framework to prioritize areas for effective landscape change. Spatial targeting is particularly useful when allocating limited public funds, ensuring maximum impact, and when private investors seek to enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of their investments.

This report produces opportunity maps that show where landscape scale restoration could be carried out in a way that benefits multiple ecosystem services and biodiversity by expanding woodlands and agroforestry, decreasing grazing pressure, increasing hedgerows and field margins, restoring natural grasslands and heathlands. Note that peatlands are not included in this report as they are the object of a separate in-depth study.

Key Results: Landscape zonation

Note that the opportunity maps do not propose to change land use in the whole of the identified areas, rather, they identify a priority zonation where a certain type of change could occur. Individual opportunity maps are shown below (ES Figure 1). The highest priorities for each are reported as hectares in ES Table 1, and they are were aggregated into one final Landscape Zonation map (ES Figure 2), and summary of priority catchments are in ES Figure 3.

Acknowledgments

This work would not have been possible without the contribution of many colleagues who contributed with datasets and models as well as advice, that we used and integrated into our framework. We thank Andrea Baggio-Compagnucci, Rob Brooker, Zisis Gagkas, Faye Jackson, Brian McCreadie, Ian Malcolm, Scott Newey, Robin Pakeman, Bethany Wilkins, Matt Wilkinson.

We also thank the Scottish Government (RESAS) for financial support.

Please cite as: Gimona, A., Castellazzi, M. (2025) Transformative landscape change to tackle the climate and biodiversity crises:  a Scotland-wide zonation for restoration (v.1.1). RESAS Research Program 2022-27, grant JHI-C5-1, Deliverable 3.2-Landscape Zonation. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.15044785