Rob Edwards

One year on, how green is the SNP?

from Sunday Herald, 27 April 2008

The SNP grew up on oil, is wedded to economic expansion and always wants to put Scotland first. As a political party, it has never developed a coherent theoretical approach to one of the defining issues of the age: the environment.

It comes as some surprise then, that after a year in power, the SNP has won warm plaudits from many environmentalists. There are still major reservations, of course, but most observers outside political parties seem to think that the SNP is doing a better job than its predecessors in government.

Plea for sustainable local food

from Sunday Herald, 13 April 2008

Ministers must put the environment at the heart of their policy on food by seeking to support local food, minimise food miles and cut pollution, say the government’s green advisers.

But in a submission to the Scottish government’s discussion on food policy this week, the Sustainable Development Commission (SDC) will warn that there could be “confusion and misunderstanding” if the goal of sustainable food is not properly defined.

The SDC will also call on ministers to do more to help ensure global food security, by reducing the amount of food imported into Scotland. And it will urge all public agencies to source the meals served in their canteens from local producers.

The Scottish government doesn't eat much Scottish food

from Sunday Herald, 23 March 2008

In the First Minister Alex Salmond’s well-publicised bid to eat only Scottish food last week, he would have been well advised to steer clear of the Scottish government’s own canteens.

An investigation by the Sunday Herald has discovered that as much as 80% of the vegetables and half the meat served to nearly 6,000 civil servants in Edinburgh and Glasgow are imported from outwith Scotland.

The revelation, condemned as “appalling” by food campaigners, has prompted drastic action by ministers. The contract for supplying meals and snacks to the Scottish government and its guests is now to be put out to tender to help boost local food.

Scottish government to ban bottled water

from Sunday Herald, 23 March 2008

Bottled water is to be banned at Scottish government events as part of a bid to ‘go greener’ and protect the environment.

Ministers have told the Sunday Herald that bottles of still water will no longer be provided at meetings hosted on government premises in Edinburgh or Glasgow. Instead, the water will come from the mains.

Local food project saved at eleventh hour

from Sunday Herald, 16 March 2008

A prize-winning local food project, which was closed down last week because of a funding shortfall, has been given an eleventh-hour reprieve after an investigation by the Sunday Herald.

On Friday morning Highlands and Islands Local Food Network (HILFN) was “gutted” at having to cancel a £60,000 apprenticeship scheme for local food producers. But by Friday afternoon crucial funding had been reinstated, putting the scheme back on track.

The Highlands and Islands Enterprise (HIE) office covering Inverness and east highland reversed an earlier decision not to fund six apprentices from their area to join the year-long training scheme. This means that the scheme can now go ahead, to the delight of its organisers.

Attack on government food discussion

from Sunday Herald, 16 March 2008

The Scottish government’s public discussion on food policy has been attacked as “bland motherhood and apple pie” and “ridiculous” by an international food expert.

But the criticisms have been dismissed as an “extreme rant” by the environment minister, Richard Lochhead, who pointed out that the discussion had been welcomed by the vast majority of people.

Government food grants go green

from Sunday Herald, 16 March 2008

Food businesses in Scotland will have to prove that they are being environmentally-friendly if they want to qualify for a slice of a new £60 million government grant scheme.

Ministers have decided that commitments to sustainability, reducing waste and healthy eating will be critical in deciding whether or not to back enterprises with much-needed funds.

The shocking new face of world hunger

from Sunday Herald 09 March 2008

by Kate Smith and Rob Edwards

It is the new face of hunger. A perfect storm of food scarcity, global warming, rocketing oil prices and the world population explosion is plunging humanity into the biggest crisis of the 21st century by pushing up food prices and spreading hunger and poverty from rural areas into cities.

Millions more of the world’s most vulnerable people are facing starvation as food shortages loom and crop prices spiral ever upwards. And for the first time in history, say experts, the impact is spreading from the developing to the developed world.

More than 73 million people in 78 countries who depend on food handouts from the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) are facing reduced rations this year. The increasing scarcity of food is the “biggest crisis looming for the world”, according to WFP officials.

Tackling food scarcity in Scotland

comment from Sunday Herald, 09 March 2008

You may think you’ve heard it all before: prolonged droughts, looming food shortages, and the threat of starving millions. But think again. This time it’s different.

As we report today, the world is facing an unprecedented combination of circumstances that is pushing it to the brink of disaster. The rising price of oil, the exploding population and the havoc wreaked by global warming are all conspiring to create food scarcity.

Biofuels: the big mistake

from Sunday Herald, 09 March 2008

The global drive for a new green fuel to power cars, lorries and planes is worsening world food shortages and threatening to make billions go hungry.

Biofuels, enthusiastically backed by the US, UK and other European governments, have been sold as the solution to global warming. Making fuels from growing crops has been marketed as the way to cut climate pollution while keeping on driving.

But now experts are warning that this could all be a disastrous mistake. Converting large amounts of land to crops for biofuels is reducing food production just when the world needs to increase it.

Higher food bills, and eating less meat

from Sunday Herald, 09 March 2008

Families in Scotland are going to be hit by ever higher food bills, while the nation’s farmers could play a vital role feeding the world in the future. But we may all need to eat less meat to help save the planet.

These are the main messages from Scottish food specialists worried about the growing world food crisis. As a relatively rich developed country, Scotland is unlikely to experience mass starvation, but it will have to undergo some radical changes.

Supermarket food: unhealthy, unjust and unsustainable

from Sunday Herald, 17 February 2008

Big supermarkets are selling food that is unhealthy, unjust and unsustainable - and they should be tackled head on by the Scottish government.

That is the uncompromising message being delivered to ministers this weekend by their high-level environmental advisor, the Sustainable Development Commission. Otherwise, it warns, key targets to combat obesity, reduce waste and cut pollution will be frustrated.

The supermarkets are accused of being “retail leviathans”. Their alleged offences include offers of ‘two for the price of one’, the promotion of foods loaded with fat and salt, pointless packaging, excessive plastic bags, massive food waste and an over-dependence on cars and lorries.

Revealed: £40m farm grant scandal

from Sunday Herald, 04 November 2007

Scotland's parliament and government have been hoodwinked into giving farmers an extra £40 million of taxpayers' money this year, despite advice from officials that it would be "gross over-compensation".

A dossier of internal emails and memos from the former Scottish Executive reveals that the then LibDem rural development minister, Ross Finnie, misled MSPs and fellow ministers over the payment. The European Commission was kept in the dark and rules were bent to ensure that farmers received the money in the run-up to the election in May.

The £40 million pay-out is regarded as "absolutely scandalous" by insiders. It triggered a private pre-election row between Finnie and the then Labour Finance Minister, Tom McCabe, and resulted in the retrospective doctoring of a government news release.

Inside story: how farmers won £40m from the public purse

from Sunday Herald, 04 November 2007

It all started with a three-line email on 4 October 2006 from an official in the Scottish Executive Environment and Rural Affairs Department. There was a possibility of a "supplementary payment" to farmers.

"I have mentioned this idea informally to Mr Finnie and he is keen that we pursue it urgently", the official wrote. And so began the saga of the then rural development minister, Ross Finnie, and his £40 million for farmers.

The fascinating inside story of how decisions on subsidising Scotland's farmers were made, reversed and misrepresented emerges from a long trail of internal emails and memos released by the Scottish government under freedom of information law.

Anger over 275,000 'free-range' hens in sheds

from Sunday Herald, 14 January 2007

Plans to put more than a quarter of a million hens in 11 huge sheds and sell their eggs as "free-range" have been derided as a mockery by animal welfare campaigners.

Glenrath Farms, an award-winning Scottish business which supplies eggs to Tesco and Asda, has run into a storm of protest over its scheme to create one of the world's largest free-range egg farms in the Borders.

Anger over sidelining of organic food

from Sunday Herald, 19 November 2006

Environment minister Ross Finnie has come under fire for failing to promote organic food in the Scottish Executive’s campaign to combat climate change.

The Soil Association, which supports organic farming, has complained that a new government website designed to encourage climate-friendly behaviour makes no mention of organic food or its environmental benefits.

Food companies given millions of pounds

from Sunday Herald, 10 April 2005

Some of Scotland's most famous food companies have been given huge amounts of taxpayers' money under a system which helps farmers in Europe but hurts them in poor countries.

New figures released under the Freedom of Information Act reveal that in just one year Walkers Shortbread received £748,000 and the biscuit makers, Thomas Tunnock, got £44,100. The payments were compensation for the high cost of sugar and butter in Europe.