East Lothian's Local Biodiversity Action Plan

East Lothian’s Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP) sets out actions to tackle the Nature Emergency by protecting and enhancing nature in East Lothian. It has been produced by East Lothian Council on behalf of East Lothian’s Biodiversity Partnership through a process of collaborative partnership working.

The LBAP recognises that biodiversity is under threat both globally and nationally. It seeks to ensure that nationally and locally important species and habitats are conserved and enhanced through local action, to help East Lothian tackle the interlinked Climate and Nature Emergencies. The LBAP identifies actions and efforts that contribute towards mitigating further biodiversity loss, ensuring that our habitats are diverse and in healthy condition and that our ecosystems are healthy and resilient.

The plan focusses on local context, to ensure East Lothian delivers its part of national and international priorities to protect and enhance nature. It includes an Action Plan which supports the delivery of actions aligning with the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy at a local level. With expertise and knowledge from local specialists, groups and community members this plan identifies local priorities for protecting and enhancing ecosystems, habitats and species in East Lothian. As well as implementing actions to assist the response to the interlinked Climate and Nature Emergencies, the plan reflects the importance of engaging communities and citizens with delivery of actions. habitats of East Lothian at a national and local level as well as highlighting the contribution local biodiversity makes to the communities of East Lothian.

The Action Plan acknowledges the importance of people in the response to the Nature Emergency and that biodiversity not only benefits our natural environment, but the health and wellbeing of our communities. Community action has played an important role in delivering local biodiversity projects to date. This Action Plan aims to continue to support the delivery of local community projects and champion local people’s voices and action for biodiversity. Further, this action plan highlights the significant impacts and opportunities that development and planning have on biodiversity and nature. This includes the adverse impacts they can have but also the recognition that they play an important role in creating and delivering positive effects for biodiversity and nature.

East Lothian’s Local Biodiversity Action Plan works towards a vision to 2035 to:

• Restore and regenerate biodiversity across East Lothian’s land, freshwater, coast and marine habitats.
• Ensure that our natural environment, habitats, ecosystems and species will be diverse, thriving, resilient and adaptable to climate change.
• Enable East Lothian’s communities and people to play their part in the stewardship of the local and national natural environment, central to a nature positive future.

This Biodiversity Action Plan embeds landscape scale ambition of restoration through the conservation, and protection for East Lothian’s priority habitats. It also aims to raise awareness of the wildlife and 4 The Delivery Plan sets out a partnership approach to delivering actions, working with key stakeholders in the East Lothian’s Biodiversity Partnership and other community organisations, neighbouring local authorities, and Government agencies such as NatureScot, to maximise delivery of actions for nature and identify further opportunities for nature restoration, nature-based solutions, and protection of biodiversity, both within the county and in connection to larger habitat networks.

Priority themes have been identified by East Lothian’s Biodiversity Partnership to respond to the Nature Emergency and protect and enhance East Lothian’s biodiversity. These are:

• Priority Theme 1: Landscape and habitat restoration and regeneration
• Priority Theme 2: Species recovery
• Priority Theme 3: People and nature
• Priority Theme 4: Biodiversity, planning, policy and development Each priority theme will deliver at least one of the following

Outcomes aligning with the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy:

1. East Lothian’s landscape and priority habitats will be diverse, healthy and resilient helping ecosystems deliver a wide range of ecosystem services.
2. Protected areas will be connected and in good condition.
3. The abundance and distribution of priority species will increase in numbers and have healthy and resilient populations.
4. Invasive Non-Native Species (INNS) will be managed so that they no longer degrade priority habitats and native species or impede on their conservation and restoration.
5. Nature based solutions will be fundamental to our efforts to deliver Net Zero and adapt to climate change.
6. Natural Capital will be embedded and valued within policy and decision making.
7. Biodiversity will be integrated, understood and valued across East Lothian and its communities.

The Action Plan 2025–2035 includes the following East Lothian landscape and habitat types:

• Coastal and Marine Landscape Action Plan
• Freshwater Networks Action Plan
• Farmland and Heathland Landscape Action Plan
• Tree and Woodland Action Plan
• Urban Landscape and Golf Courses Action Plan
• Planning, Development and Biodiversity Action Plan
• People and Nature Action Plan

The Action Plan is intended to be a working document. A monitoring framework will be set up with key indicators to chart progress of actions. East Lothian Biodiversity Partnership will annually review the delivery plan and the progress of actions within it to ensure agreed targets are being met and that they are still suitable and achievable. Progress with delivering the LBAP will be reported annually, in addition to 3-yearly progress updates to the Scottish Government through East Lothian Council’s Biodiversity Duty reporting.