Performance Committee - Paper 4 - Cairngorms Nature Action Plan

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 4 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh 12 Decem­ber 2025 Page 1 of 5

For inform­a­tion

Title: Cairngorms Nature Action Plan

Pre­pared by: Sarah Hen­shall, Head of Con­ser­va­tion and

Car­o­lyn Robertson, Cairngorms Nature Manager

Pur­pose This paper presents an update on the devel­op­ment of the next Cairngorms Nature Action Plan.

Recom­mend­a­tions The Board is asked to: α) Note the revised timeline for pro­duc­tion. b) Note the action plan struc­ture. c) Note the example of approach with fresh­wa­ter chapter.

Stra­tegic context

1. The Cairngorms Nature Action Plan is one of the four main strategies that help deliv­er the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan (NPPP). Its role is to drive pro­gress towards a Nation­al Park that is car­bon neg­at­ive, rich in biod­iversity, and sup­por­ted by health­i­er, bet­ter-con­nec­ted and more resi­li­ent ecosystems.

2. The Action Plan provides the struc­ture for how we deliv­er the nature-related pri­or­it­ies in the cor­por­ate plan, both through our own work and through the work we sup­port in others.

3. The Nature Action Plan provides the over­arch­ing frame­work that brings togeth­er the Cairngorms Nature Index and the Cairngorms Nature Net­works. The Index offers a clear, evid­ence-based pic­ture of eco­sys­tem health and trends across the Nation­al Park, while the Nature Net­works identi­fy where action is most needed to improve con­nectiv­ity and resi­li­ence. By integ­rat­ing both tools, the Action Plan ensures that pri­or­it­ies are informed by robust data and that inter­ven­tions are

---

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 4 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh 12 Decem­ber 2025 Page 2 of 5

1. tar­geted where they will have the greatest impact- sup­port­ing a more coordin­ated, stra­tegic and effect­ive approach to restor­ing nature across the Nation­al Park.

2. The Action Plan does not replace nation­al policies or strategies. Instead, it com­ple­ments and builds on them. This includes, for example, the Scot­tish Forestry Strategy, the Scot­tish Biod­iversity Strategy and the Flood Resi­li­ence Strategy and River Basin Man­age­ment Plans.

The Action Plan is a col­lab­or­at­ive frame­work that guides and sup­ports stake­hold­ers across the Nation­al Park. It sets out the shared pri­or­it­ies and stra­tegic dir­ec­tion for invest­ing in and deliv­er­ing a nature-rich, cli­mate-resi­li­ent Cairngorms Nation­al Park.

Stake­hold­er engagement

1. The Cairngorms Nature Strategy Group is the primary stake­hold­er engage­ment mech­an­ism for stra­tegic input and over­sight of the Cairngorms Nature Action Plan. The group com­prises a range of organ­isa­tions and land man­agers with an act­ive role in the devel­op­ment of pro­jects and deliv­ery of biod­iversity gain in the Nation­al Park.

2. Mem­ber­ship of the Strategy Group has been updated to best sup­port its func­tions with regard to a new Action Plan, new NPPP and Nation­al policy agenda. For example, new mem­bers of the Strategy Group include rep­res­ent­at­ives from all River Catch­ment Part­ner­ships in the Nation­al Park and Roy­al Zoolo­gic­al Soci­ety Scotland.

3. Park Author­ity Board mem­ber Peter Cos­grove has a dual role as Chair of both the Cairngorms Nature Strategy Group (CNSG) and the Cairngorms Upland Advis­ory Group (CUAG). Peter is work­ing to strengthen links between CUAG and CNSG, and to improve coordin­a­tion with the Cairngorms Agri­cul­tur­al Advis­ory Group (CAAG).

4. Cairngorms Nature Strategy Mem­bers have recently begun dis­cus­sions about how the new Nature Action Plan can deliv­er com­munity bene­fits with the need for early, pro­por­tion­ate and trust-build­ing engage­ment. Addi­tion­al resource may be required to sup­port effect­ive engage­ment, draw­ing on learn­ing from Cairngorms 2030.

---

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 4 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh 12 Decem­ber 2025 Page 3 of 5

1. The Action Plan will include a set of prin­ciples for com­munity bene­fits, incor­por­at­ing com­munity wealth-build­ing approaches such as skills devel­op­ment, edu­ca­tion and job cre­ation. Com­munity bene­fits will need to be clearly defined with­in the con­text of the Action Plan, with indic­at­ors built in to mon­it­or pro­gress and impact, and to help strengthen com­munity capa­city over time to play a more act­ive role in nature res­tor­a­tion. Part­ners may need sup­port or upskilling in apply­ing this approach.

2. In addi­tion to tar­geted engage­ment with com­munit­ies and oth­er key stake­hold­ers as part of the Action Plan’s devel­op­ment, a form­al, six-week con­sulta­tion will be car­ried out as per the timeline described overleaf.

Timetable for devel­op­ing the action plan

1. The Action Plan will be developed in tan­dem with the NPPP.

2. The aim is that the Board will sign off the NPPP and Nature Action Plan for sub­mis­sion to Scot­tish Min­is­ters in March 2027. The flow chart below sets out the key dates for the devel­op­ment of the plan.

3. The engage­ment work dur­ing Septem­ber 2025 to March 2026, builds on the sub­stan­tial data col­lec­ted over the past 18 months via the res­id­ents’ sur­vey, vis­it­or sur­vey, Com­munity Action Plans and the Loc­al Devel­op­ment Plan (LDP) consultation.

4. Devel­op­ing the Action Plan dur­ing the time peri­od set out below will allow for full con­sid­er­a­tion of the Scot­tish Biod­iversity Strategy deliv­ery plan, Scotland’s Flood Resi­li­ence Strategy and any pro­vi­sions in the forth­com­ing Nat­ur­al Envir­on­ment Bill.

5. To date, with sup­port from the Cairngorms Nature Strategy, a draft struc­ture has been developed for the Nature Action Plan, a draft vis­ion and a tem­plate chapter focused ini­tially on fresh­wa­ter eco­sys­tems using the draft Cairngorms Nature Index and Cairngorms Nature Net­works to identi­fy pri­or­ity actions.

---

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 4 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh 12 Decem­ber 2025 Page 4 of 5

Sept 2025 — March 2026 Inform­al engage­ment and evid­ence gath­er­ing with com­munit­ies, key stake­hold­ers and the

June 2026 — Sept 2026 Draft Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan and Nature Action Plan developed for consultation.

Oct 2026 – Dec 2026 Form­al pub­lic con­sulta­tion for the Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan and Nature Action Plan.

Jan 2027 — Mar 2027 Revi­sion of Nation­al Park Part­ner­ship Plan and Nature Action Plan for form­al adoption.

Implic­a­tions

1. Cairngorms Nature is a core part of the Park Authority’s work, driv­ing deliv­ery of the NPPP and strength­en­ing the col­lab­or­at­ive part­ner­ships that sup­port increased biod­iversity and cli­mate resi­li­ence across the Nation­al Park. The pro­gramme is coordin­ated by the Cairngorms Nature Man­ager, with deliv­ery sup­por­ted through the Park Authority’s oper­a­tion­al budget.

2. The devel­op­ment of the Action Plan is a col­lab­or­at­ive pro­cess. Strong, ongo­ing com­mit­ment to its deliv­ery is cent­ral to the Park Authority’s rela­tion­ships with land man­agers, agen­cies, organ­isa­tions and com­munit­ies, and under­pins pro­gress across many areas of the NPPP.

---

Cairngorms Nation­al Park Author­ity Per­form­ance Com­mit­tee Paper 4 Ugh­dar­ras Pàirc Nàiseanta a’ Mhon­aidh Ruaidh 12 Decem­ber 2025 Page 5 of 5

Suc­cess measures

1. The Cairngorms Nature Action Plan 2027 – 2032, rep­res­ent­ing clear actions to deliv­er, and report on, NPPP object­ives, will be pub­lished with the sup­port of a wide range of stake­hold­ers in March 2027.

Sarah Hen­shall 25 Novem­ber 2025 sarahhenshall@​cairngorms.​co.​uk

Car­o­lyn Robertson 25 Novem­ber 2025 carolynrobertson@​cairngorms.​co.​uk