Conservation continues to be firmly on the political agenda. It
is woven into the Scottish Land Rights and Responsibilities
Statement which includes promoting the protection and enhancement
of the environment, describing those who hold land rights as
'stewards of Scotland's land resource'.
Conservation also has a synergy with the concept of public goods
(such as biodiversity, a stable climate, good air quality, flood
prevention and mitigation). The increasingly prominent role
which conservation has to play in the rural economy was brought
into sharper focus in the Scottish Government's A future
strategy for Scottish agriculture: final report (31 May 2018) with
its headline recommendation that: 'Stewardship of the
countryside should be a key part of future policy' and include
'purely public goods such as wildlife and carbon
sequestration'. One of the few certainties arising from
Brexit is that conservation and the promotion of public goods will
be increasingly
