By stewartb
There is merit in communicating the intrinsic – the ‘sticky’ – assets of Scotland. Demonstrating that Scotland has valuable assets in abundance is a necessary but not sufficient part of case making for independence – it’s also about giving confidence that such assets can be better sustained, used to better effect and renewed in future in an independent Scotland. I do still come across Unionists holding to the ‘too wee, too poor etc.’ nonsense!
The UK’s Office for National Statistics (ONS) has in recent years been publishing accounts of ‘natural capital’ or ‘wealth’.
It explains: ‘Natural wealth is reflected in things like the productivity of soils and access to clean water. Any natural resource or process that supports human life, society and the economy forms a part of our natural capital. We are estimating both the current value and what it could provide for future generations. Valuing natural capital is an important part of a wider move to better understand inclusive wealth, as described in The Economics of Biodiversity: The Dasgupta Review. ‘ (with my emphasis)
On 15 June 2023 it published this: ‘Scotland natural capital accounts: 2023 – Estimates the value of Scottish natural capital and its beneficial effects for the population.’ (https://www.ons.gov.uk/economy/environmentalaccounts/bulletins/scotlandnaturalcapitalaccounts/2023 ) There are useful statistics here to note, the value of which is enhanced by coming from the authoritative ONS.
‘Scotland accounts for around 32% of the total UK land area.’
‘The total asset value of natural capital in Scotland that we can currently value is an estimated £230 billion in 2019, representing 13% of the total UK asset value’ – asset values of natural resources measure ‘the long-term potential (stock) of that resource to provide goods and services to people’.
‘The total annual value of ecosystem services that we can currently value in Scotland is estimated to be £15 billion in 2019, 30% of the total UK annual value.’ – ecosystem services are the contributions of ecosystems to economic and other human activity.
‘In 2019, the annual value of provisioning services in Scotland was £14 billion, 57% of the annual value of provisioning services across the UK.’ – provisioning services are products extracted, harvested or derived from nature, such as food, water, energy and materials
The ONS explains that in general ‘the value of provisioning services is determined by the extent and location of underlying natural capital assets rather than where the people that ultimately benefit from these assets are based.’ As if we in Scotland haven’t known this for a very long time!!
‘Some 73% of the total UK fish capture in 2020 was in Scotland’ and ‘Where stock sustainability was known, 78% of Scotland’s fish capture was sustainable in 2020’ – the ONS reports that the sustainability status of Scotland’s stocks was unknown for just 7% whilst for the rest of the UK, 65% of total capture had an unknown sustainability status.
In 2021 ‘Scotland produces 31% of the UK total wind electricity generation and 86% of Scotland’s contribution comes from onshore wind.’
‘Scotland accounted for 62% of UK timber production in 2021’
‘Water abstraction decreased 28% between 2003 to 2017, … This was partly because of a decrease in water leakage, with the three-year moving average declining every year since 2005.’
On cultural services – ‘the non-material benefits we obtain from ecosystems through recreation, tourism and the associated health benefits’ – ‘Scotland accounted for 11% of the total UK annual value for recreation and house prices in 2019’ – the ONS explains it calculation of value relating to house prices, both ‘recreation’ and ‘aesthetic’
‘The proportion of people in Scotland who received health benefits from nature is typically the greatest of the four nations’ – in 2020 assessed as 48% in Scotland and 37% in England’.
Recall from the intro to this report from the ONS: ‘Any natural resource or process that supports human life, society and the economy forms a part of our natural capital’ and ‘Valuing natural capital is an important part of a wider move to better understand INCLUSIVE WEALTH’.
Good to have the ONS confirm Scotland as asset rich in this important form of ‘capital’!
Talking-up Scotland 'Albatraz' 
If only there were a Scottish based organisation out there designed to inform Scots about the truth concerning our country, like there is in every other one in the civilised world.
Just imagine if we had one speaking honestly to us, instead of traducing everyone, everything, every minute of every day?
Do we not deserve better?
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Clearly these stats demonstrate why the respected Lord Foulkes of F*ckdum continually accuses the Scottish Government of ”deliberately ” doing good to make the UK look bad .
Now he will be accusing The Creator of ”deliberately ”packing lots of assets into Scotland instead of England , where privatised industries could make squillions from ripping off the population and squirreling the money away in OffShore Accounts .
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🙂
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The question is why isnt the SNP creating an organisation that gathers these kind of stats and publishes them thereby educating the Scottish people and those beyond about how resource rich a country Scotland is , we have enough evidence already to show that the ONS is corrupt in favour of england , our census carried out three years ago still hasnt been published they issue snippets of information but hide the hurtful truth we need to know such as the huge increase in the number of english people moving into Scotland and they dont all admit they are english either because they like to tick the box saying they are british , this stops ONS being able to shop the true deluge of english into Scotland.
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It has nothing to do with any political party, it’s a reflection on the media in Scotland – Stewart’s article was on what is already in the public domain, but the media deliberately ignore it, which is the entire point. Create a dedicated unit to amplify this information and it would likewise be ignored by a media with a different agenda – eg Have you ever heard in the media of the success of BiS in getting such information presented in more easily digested format into the public domain ? Nope, and you won’t.
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The ONS and ‘our census’? Presumably Scotland’s census?
What did the ONS have to do with Scotland’s census and the reporting of its data?
What’s being going on here?
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Nothing involving the ONS I suspect. See the web site dedicated to Scotland’s 2022 Census and its publication schedule.
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The SNP publishes the facts all the time. It is up to people to take notice. The information is on the internet. In the UK Gov whole accounts. They just need looking up. People who do not know must be living in a vacuum. The data is all available. Maybe in places with no internet people do not know.
The mix of people in Scotland and elsewhere are consistent. People from Scotland move south. Migrants move in both direction. Also from the EU. There has only been a slight increase in Scotlands population since Devolution. 2000. 5 million to 5.4million. 200,000+ came from the EU. Enough to swing Independence. Without the threat of losing EU membership. Then Brexit. Westminster chaos.
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