- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions have taken place with members of the Welsh Assembly Government in respect of the approval of Chardon LL mai'e; on what dates the discussions took place, and what the outcomes were.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has regular contact with the Welsh Assembly Government and the other UKAdministrations on a range of issues, including GM crops.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has responsibility, under Article 11 of the EC Habitats Directive, for the surveillance of the conservation status of priority habitats and species in Scotland and, if not, where the responsibility lies.
Answer
The Scottish Executive has responsibility for ensuring the requirements of Article 11 areadhered to in Scotland.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive how many sites containing (a) active raised bog and (b) degraded raised bog capable of regeneration there are in Scotland.
Answer
The Scottish NaturalHeritage report An inventory of lowland raised bogs in Great Britain (Lindsay, R.A. and Immirzi, P., 1996) identifies 807 raised bog sitesin Scotland. Of these, 281 are identified as supporting areas ofactive bog, and 344 supporting areas of degraded bog capable of regeneration. Itis important to note that the figures for degraded bog capable of regenerationrefer to sites supporting some area of vegetation capable of restoration to bogvegetation. This does not necessarily imply that each site as a whole iscapable of regeneration.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what the current European Commission guidance is on the area and number and/or distribution of sites for active raised bog and degraded raised bog capable of regeneration needing to be protected with Special Area for Conservation status within Scotland.
Answer
Article 4.1 of the Habitats Directive provides guidance on the selection process for SpecialAreas of Conservation. This states that member states should propose a list ofsites based on the criteria laid out in Annex III of the Directive and relevantscientific information. On the basis of these criteria, member states will designateareas according to their relative value for the conservation of each naturalhabitat type identified in Annex I of the Directive.
Theweb link to the Habitats Directive is:
http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/nature/habdir.htm.In accordance with Article4.2 the UK list of raised bog sites has been the subject of detailed discussionwith the European Commission.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the area of (a) active raised bog and (b) degraded raised bog capable of regeneration is included in currently proposed Special Areas for Conservation
Answer
It is estimated that 68% of the active raised bog and 34% of the degraded raised bog habitat in Scotland isincluded in designated candidate Special Areas of Conservation.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive what percentage of the number of sites containing (a) active raised bog and (b) degraded raised bog capable of regeneration is included in currently proposed Special Areas for Conservation.
Answer
Twenty five sites have been designated as candidate SpecialAreas of Conservation for active raised bog in Scotland. This is around 9% of the sites identified as supporting some amount of active bog in the ScottishNatural Heritage report
An inventory of lowland raised bogs in Great Britain (Lindsay, R.A. and Immirzi,P., 1996).
Twenty two sites have beendesignated as candidate Special Areas of Conservation for degraded raised bogstill capable of natural regeneration. This is just over 6% of the sitesidentified as supporting some amount of bog capable of regeneration in the samereport.
Many of the sites describedin the inventory are small remnants of previously larger sites.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether experiences of farmers in North America have informed any decision on the possible future of genetically modified organisms.
Answer
The Executive’s policy on GMcrops is based on all relevant information.
Farming conditions in North Americaare vastly different to farming conditions in Scotland. As such theexperiences of North American farmers are not directly relevant to the Scottishsituation. However, our expert advisory committees continually monitor all newscientific developments and if necessary update their advice.
Unlike North American governments,we intend to introduce statutory co-existence measures to protect the interestsof non-GM farmers.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will ask Scottish Natural Heritage to consider designating Aucheninnes Moss as a Special Area of Conservation, in light of the recent survey report by Richard Lindsay for the Invertebrate Conservation Trust that shows that the area fits the EU Habitats Directive habitat category "degraded raised bog capable of regeneration" and contains areas fitting the priority habitat category "active raised bog".
Answer
Scottish Natural Heritagescientific advice is that the habitat type found at Aucheninnes Moss does notmeet the definition of either “active raised bog” or “degraded raised bogcapable of regeneration”, and that the site therefore does not meet thequalifying criteria for selection as a possible Special Area of Conservation.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive who should be liable for any economic damage caused by material from genetically modified crops if they are cultivated in Scotland.
Answer
We will consult allconcerned on the most appropriate co-existence arrangements for Scotland todeliver choice for both consumers and farmers and on possible compensationarrangements for farmers who suffer economic loss. The present presumption isthat any compensation scheme would need to be funded by the GM crops industry,rather than by the Executive or producers of non-GM crops.
- Asked by: Mark Ruskell, MSP for Mid Scotland and Fife, Scottish Green Party
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Date lodged: Friday, 05 March 2004
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Current Status:
Answered by Allan Wilson on 19 March 2004
To ask the Scottish Executive whether the release of Chardon LL mai'e is still legal under EU directive 2001/18/EC, given that its transgenic insert changed from the structure reported in the company's original dossier.
Answer
The Advisory Committee onReleases to the Environment (ACRE) has recently considered two reports whichclaimed that independent analysis had identified discrepancies in the molecularcharacterisation of approved GM products.
ACRE consider that the additional information was due torecent improvements in the methods for the analysis of transformation events anddid not give rise to an additional risk. However, ACRE haverequested further information to allow them to complete their own analysis and,if necessary, will review relevant risk assessments in light of this information.
ACRE are satisfied that the original consent remainslegal since there is no evidence that the GM insert in Chardon LL maize haschanged.
