Visualising the Future - Nature Networks

By 2030 at least 30% of Scotland’s land (including terrestrial, inland water and coastal habitats) will be protected or conserved for biodiversity, delivering for people and climate. These sites will be connected, to form the Nature Network.

This animation shows what change will look like, up to 2045.

Covering Framework Delivery Principles:

Data, mapping, & monitoring
Finance & resourcing
Governance & decision making
Knowledge & skills
Monitoring, Evaluation & Reporting
Participation, engagement, & communication
Policy & Mainstreaming
Project Development
Project Implementation
Spatial Mapping

Page last updated 2 June, 2026

Nature Networks – Visualising the Future Animation

Nature Networks in Scotland will support connection between our important areas for wildlife, and bring people closer to nature. This short video shows how our landscapes, countryside and towns could change over the next few decades as Nature Network expand and are delivered by organisations, communities and land owners across the country.

Lìonraidhean Nàdair na h-Alba – A’ toirt An Ama Ri Teachd Am Follais

Neartaichidh Lìonraidhean Nàdair ann an Alba an ceangal eadar àitichean a tha cudromach do dh’fhiadh-bheatha, agus bheir iad daoine nas fhaisge air nàdar. Tha am bhidio goirid seo a’ sealltainn mar a dh’fhaodadh dha na cruthan-tìre, an dùthaich agus bailtean atharrachadh thar nan deicheadan ri thighinn ’s buidhnean, coimhearsnachdan ’s uachdaranan fearainn a’ toirt Lìonraidhean Nàdair gu buil air feadh na dùthcha.

2025 – 2045

Help us build a useful toolbox

Share your feedback on existing guidance and resources, as well as links to others you think would be useful. We’d also love to hear about any great Nature Network projects that we should showcase.

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Glossary

30 by 30
Target 3 in the Global Biodiversity Framework “Ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water, and of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories, where applicable, and integrated into wider landscapes, seascapes and the ocean, while ensuring that any sustainable use, where appropriate in such areas, is fully consistent with conservation outcomes, recognizing and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, including over their traditional territories”. For Scotland 30 by 30 sites are made up of Protected Areas and Other Effective Area-based Conservation Measures (OECMs).
Corridors
A geographically defined area which allows species to move between landscapes, ecosystems and habitats, natural or modified, and ensures the maintenance of biodiversity and ecological and evolutionary processes. (IPBES)
Ecosystem health
Ecosystem health is a metaphor used to describe the condition of an ecosystem, by analogy with human health. Note that there is no universally accepted benchmark for a healthy ecosystem. Rather, the apparent health status of an ecosystem can vary, depending upon which metrics are employed in judging it, and which societal aspirations are driving the assessment and ecological and evolutionary processes (IPBES).
Ecosystem services
Processes by which the environment produces benefits useful to people, akin to economic services (CBD).
Mainstreaming
In the context of biodiversity, means integrating actions or policies related to biodiversity into broader development processes or policies, such as those aimed at poverty reduction or tackling climate change (IPBES).
Nature based solution
Actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human wellbeing and biodiversity benefits (IUCN).
Nature Networks
A Nature Network connects nature-rich sites, restoration areas, and other environmental projects through a series of areas of suitable habitat, habitat corridors and stepping-stones.
Private finance
Financial flow from the private sector (not under government control)
Protected area
A clearly defined geographical space, recognised, dedicated and managed, through legal or other effective means, to achieve the long-term conservation of nature with associated ecosystem services and cultural values (IUCN).
Stepping stones
A habitat patch in a landscape that facilitates movement or offers refuge to species.
Wildlife friendly
Areas that provides a level of food and shelter or similar to support wildlife with minimal levels of disturbance.

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