 N lum wneud cyflydd y ddybatidd fawr yn ddeithas gen ierydd o'r ddweud o grannu ar gyfer iawn, a eu du lawer y ddybatid wedi bod yn ddidd yn ddegos i ddych posebydd. Felly dymai cael ei dbyrnu chi i wneud cyflydd ar gyfer iawn i welch eu ddwyfodol. Rhaid i gael i'r ddwyfodol i ddangosu'r fawr, Ms Hamilton? Rhaid i gael i gael i'r ddiddorol i gael i ddydigau i gael i gael i'r ddwyfodol? I want to start by thanking members for attending my members' business debate today on the first day back off to recess and so it's good to see you all again haggard or revitalised. We return. So old attires, baby wipes, bottles, bicycles, a plastic picnic chair and baler twine are just a few items that my family and I picked up along the River Tweed on the great borders river clean and it's a tremendous initiative in its own right but undoubtedly a blatant excuse for us to debate today the importance of our wonderful Scottish rivers and address the biodiversity loss, habitat degradation, species extinction, extreme flooding and the fight to reverse the decline in wild salmon stocks which is very pertinent in my constituency. With delight in my motion I also cover volunteers week which is an annual event which really showcases the best of giving back to the communities in which we live. Where would we be without people who give up their time? The volunteers week campaign started in 1984 which means that 2021 was the 37th year of formally saying thank you to volunteers. So turning to the main event which you've all been waiting for the great borders river clean is a wonderful project which organizes regular large scale river clean-ups throughout the Scottish borders residents from towns and villages across my constituency and along the rivers and streams across the borders take part in the river clean predominantly those surrounding the wonderful river tweed and all of the rubbish collected is then transported to the local waste transfer station and recycled. I want to put on record my special and heartfelt thanks to Tom Rawson of St Mary's school in Melrose who is actually in Christine Graham's constituency and I'm glad to see that she's joined the debate this evening. Thank you Christine. Tom founded Green Tweed Echo who organized this fantastic project and the work of his environmental organisation aims to link environmental groups and charities with young people and schools across Scotland and through the development of large-scale wildlife conservation and education projects they encourage engagement between Scotland's children and the natural world around us. As we hand over our planet to the younger generation it's vital that they have the awareness and understanding of caring for our environment and I must also give mention to Tom's school St Mary's which was the first primary school in Scotland to successfully eliminate single-use plastics and furthermore the town of Melrose itself is making really good progress to reduce plastic consumption by becoming one of Scotland's first towns to be accredited as a plastic free community by the marine conservation group charity surface against sewage. I'd now like to turn if I may to why the river clean is so important and what it means for river pollution. We are aware of the damage that plastic pollution causes to river flora and fauna and a widespread Greenpeace survey of 13 UK rivers has found that they all contain plastic pollution. In the first nationwide exercise of its kind scientists found that microplastics were in 28 of the 30 locations tested and we can't forget also that around 80% of marine microplastics come from freshwater run-off meaning that there is a whole period where microplastics persist in rivers before they actually flushed into the ocean. It's important that we have cleaner rivers for the sake of our wildlife and the wildlife that make it their home it is their home and a lot of this is man-made and it's up to us to actually do something about it so over the years we've seen the success of Scottish fishing take a real knock. The decline in salmon stocks which I've spoken about in the chamber here before is affecting Scottish rivers across Scotland and the dire consequences many areas are now facing can partially be attributed to pollution itself. According to salmon and trout conservation the problem begins upstream in our rivers where there's a shocking 50% of aquatic insects that now contain microplastics. Whilst we can acknowledge that there's no one single cause for the decline in salmon stocks the plastic pollution and human activity are a major contribution and it might be of interest to members that the 10 years from now from 2021 until 2030 have been designated by the United Nations as a decade on ecosystem restoration river bank ecosystems are part of our life support system and I want to see the Scottish Government provide more support for riparian woodland and I can't see up here but I think that's the minister mary mcallon down there but by creating I'd like her to take on board some of these asks and we want to see shaded tributes with cool pools where salmon thrive and we can begin to tackle the falling number of salmon stocks a policy supported by Scottish woodland and I am actually the riparian woodland champion would you believe so I'd now like to point out some of the other actions that I believe would be beneficial. I think that the Scottish Government should actually look to incentivise widespread uptake of well-planned riparian woodland creation throughout schemes such as the foreign forestry grant schemes which are actually already being rolled out just now but we could actually extend them to include riparian woodland species. Nature network corridors they're another really fantastic way of rolling out riparian habitat aspirations particularly in all local authority areas right across Scotland and the regional use land partnerships could also be used to help deliver riparian networks at scale across Scotland however the most important thing that the Scottish Government can do is to give clarity to farmers on their future farm policy because with support land managers who are keen to be part of the climate change solution could improve the riparian zones along the tributaries and the rivers and the bricks and all the other bits that they have that they are able to along the riverbank itself. So as we leave here tonight possibly stopping for a world swim on the way Jackson Carlaw told me he was going to be doing that. I want us to reflect that positive change is possible and we mustn't sit back and allow pollution to damage our rivers. Every one of us must act and we must act now. I would encourage all members because it's very satisfying picking up rubbish especially dragging big tyres across very wide and long fields and it's good for everyone and if kids can do it and families can do it we can all get involved but it's for our constituencies it's for our country and we can feel proud of our communities by giving back and whether it's a river clean or a beach clean getting together with these groups to help tackle the blight of litter and pollution is absolutely essential and we need to be more like Tom like Tom Rawson so whilst these cleanups only form a small part of the wider role we'll play in tackling climate change and reducing the impact that humans have on our planet they are nonetheless vital and really bring communities together making our rivers safer for wildlife and I just want to thank once again all the volunteers Tom Rawson and everybody who's been involved in the great river clean up thank you. Thank you very much Ms Hamilton I think Mr Carlaw almost had a coronary at the prospect of wild swimming I now call Emma Harper who will be followed by Finlay Carson Emma Harper you have four minutes thank you Presiding Officer I welcome the opportunity to speak in this debate this evening and I congratulate Rachel Hamilton on securing it and she's already highlighted so much good work in her opening remarks I too want to start by congratulating Green Tweed Eco on bringing together this year's Great Borders River Clean which took place between the 15th and the 16th of May and which was supported by the Philagio Environment Fund this important work led the four hundred and sixty volunteers they took the time to clean up the river tweed and I want to congratulate the river tweed forum for their important role in helping to educate on the importance of the river in terms of biodiversity and in the river's role in tackling the climate emergency the work of the volunteers led to three thousand over three thousand kilograms of rubbish being removed from the tweed particularly remarkable considering that most of the heavy items like some of the car tires and scrap metal etc are still under several feet of water the amount of waste recorded was a real testament to the determination of all involved to remove as much rubbish as possible from the river banks an interesting finds have included and Rachel Hamilton has mentioned some of them already there's been major car parts intact fishing rod broken kayak as well as the usual detritus of our modern lives bottles plastic toys clothing and hundreds of thousands of wet wipes this river clean demonstrates what communities can achieve when they come together for a good cause and I again congratulate everyone involved. Presiding Officer across the Freeson Galloway in the west of my south Scotland region there is a lot of work going on by hard working volunteers also to clean our rivers and coasts one example is the galloway fisheries trust who are working to ensure clean riparian river banks habitats and management riparian management has already been mentioned by Rachel Hamilton in her opening remarks it can have riparian management can have important benefits to the surrounding catchment water courses can be damaged by excessive overgrazing by livestock overshading by bankside trees or the presence of alien plant species the galloway fisheries trust have completed various improvement works including installing bankside fencing organising control grazing agreements extensive spraying of Japanese knotweed giant hogweed and skunk cabbage as well as the removal of riparian coniferous forestry and planting deciduous trees in the river bank zone all of this work has led to a reduced acidity level in galloway rivers such as the river Bladnoch near Wigtown the water of D near Castle Douglas and the old millburn near Newby which is close to annan in addition to the important work of the galloway fisheries trust the solway first partnership have been working extremely hard through they've been working really extremely hard to tackle marine litter through organising beach and water cleans with volunteers throughout the region marine litter is a human created waste that has either been deliberate discarded accidentally lost or transported by winds and rivers into the sea and on the beaches marine litter is not just on sightly but can be dangerous too it can cause harm to public health and injury to our marine and coastal wildlife our birds and other sea life the D&G eco warriors they're a worthwhile mention they've been working to address issues of postal littering and I was pleased to have joined them in 2019 and hope to do so again we found a few nerddles on the beach near carcubry the solway first partnership and D&G eco warriors are particularly concerned over the impact of fly tipped waste and that's an issue that I have previously highlighted and I'd like to therefore ask the minister in closing what action the Scottish government is taking to assist local authorities in education and reinforcement or enforcement of flight upon offences especially in coastal areas when it can present a real threat just once again the river tweed is described by our own MSP Alasdair Allan in his book the tweed rins to the sea I'm sure that the border's river clean has helped greatly to maintain its appeal for walkers and visitors to enjoy and I have to remind everybody that all the money raised by Alasdair Allan's book is going to charity so thank you again presiding officer thank you very much miss Harper and I call Finlay Carson who will be followed by Colin Smith mr Carson you have four minutes thank you everybody's presiding officer and I thank my colleague Rachel Hamilton for bringing this important and first members debate of the new session waste primarily plastic has become a serious problem for the environment especially in our rivers seas and oceans you only need to go for a short stroll along most scottish beaches to discover just how serious the issue has become fortunately in my own constituency of galley in western freese there is a growing number of volunteers consisting of primary school pupils young people and even the not so young who are all equally determined to tackle not only the menace of plastic but general rubbish left strewn in the sand and around our rivers three years ago three youngsters lotty Fiona and Lucy from the Dumfries and Galloway ecowarriors and what a shining example it has become and within a matter of months it attracted 750 members and that figure has doubled in recent times through organised beach cleans across the Solway coast they have shifted tons of plastic as well as rubbish ranging from golf clubs to car wheels that have been left behind although their activities have somewhat been curtailed because of the pandemic these ecowarriors are ready to go into battle once more to clean up the beautiful beaches and coves scattered along the Solway coastline and beyond their slogan together we can make a difference probably says it all and it would urge other members of the public to join in and show their support another local cleanup organisation this time in Wictonshire ocean needs us south west scotland have staged similar cleanup exercises again around the harbour in Stranraer and it shows just how much people care and want to take pride in their community interesting there's a number of plastic collection prototype projects beginning to be developed that could help us reduce litter problems in rivers and seas and the solway first partnership is looking to tackle this in a holistic way in the south west corner of scotland together with marine scotland and others the partnership aspires not only to provide clean coast but prevent plastic litter coming downstream into the estuary so it's important to get the support and resources and help to achieve this goal given that tackling climate change and improving and protecting environment is not a short-term challenge I call on the government to ensure that funding packages reflect the need for long-term solutions and as I mentioned earlier their projects afloat including one being trialled in Holland appropriately named catchy that might be successful in improving our water quality comprising of two floating booms a floating frame and a collection cage that all these projects works on wind and current movement and it can be floated either in the key side or even in the middle of a harbour to collect floating litter so thankfully there are new technologies and solutions being developed but I believe we can't and we shouldn't rely on technology to do the dirty work for us we need a culture change we need to make littering and fly tipping as socially unacceptable as drink driving or smoking in public places and encourage people to do the right thing and I welcome my colleague Murdo Fraser's plans to bring forward a fly tipping bill but we need to take personal responsibility and take a litter home and not rely on others to clear up the mess after us so maybe further rollout and funding for countryside rangers can help educate people but until then we have to seriously thank all our eco warriors for all their sterling work in the past and in the future. Thank you very much Mr Carson and I call on Colin Smith who will be followed by Christine Grahame. Colin Smith you have four minutes to. Thank you Presiding Officer and thank you to Rachel Hamilton for for tabling her motion Presiding Officer this debate gives Parliament the opportunity to really pay tribute to all those who give up their time to organise and volunteer in riverbank litter pics such as the great Borders River Clean and great I have to say is certainly a fitting description the inaugural cleanup in October 2019 attracted 304 rubbish collectors who between them bagged an incredible 1.85 tonnes of rubbish that great to over 450 volunteers collecting more than two tonnes during the second cleanup on a chilly February, March weekend last year and despite the huge challenges and restrictions all our local communities have faced in recent months it was good to see the cleanup return in May this year when an amazing 460 volunteers collected three tonnes of rubbish from the tweed. So I want to echo the thanks that we've heard already for the work of Tom Rosson, the award-winning green tweed eco with the support of that the fall ago environment fund who have made these cleanups possible and ensured that borderers can enjoy far cleaner riverbanks as a result but Presiding Officer the great Borders River Clean-up is about more than just ensuring that our riverbanks are that bit more litter free it's also about priding our towns and the villages in the borders and right across the south of Scotland and with six tonnes of rubbish removed during just three events the cleanup really does also raise awareness of the scale of the problem of primarily plastic pollution that plagues far too many of the riversides in our communities we've seen that the appalling images of beaches and valley covered in rubbish burns in the Atlantic feeding plastic to their chicks but the damage caused by plastic pollution is happening in the rivers and the burns that run into them right here on our own doorsteps and we are ultimately the cause of that pollution and it's our problem to solve it that means we need tough action in those who leave litter on our landscape a problem that sadly does appear to be on the rise it means properly enforcing action to reduce the level of waste washed into waterways from nearby agricultural land whenever we are hit by heavy rainfall but it also means tackling the level of water often legal sewage spills into rivers and seas a level that has risen by 40 per cent over the last five years scottish waters own figures show that the equivalent of 47 000 olympic sized swimming pools worth of waste has been discharged into rivers and seas since 2016 the legal practice of releasing storm water and waste through sewage overflows into our seas and rivers that would normally go to water treatment centres but can't because of their capacity is on the increase it seems it's no longer emergency release but all too often routine release that's raw sewage legally being poured into our waterways everything from plastic toothpicks to wet wipes the very items that we all see when we're carrying out those litter picks on our riversides or on our beaches there are many high profile incidents of this not least just north of the borders on the eskin midlothian where local residents are rightly concerned at the level of pollution partly as a result of discharge from overflows from the sewage system now i get the fact that this action is taken to stop sewage back up into homes into businesses into streets open spaces particularly at times of heavy rain of course we need to better get the message across that people should not be disposing of items such as wipes into the sewage system in the first place but i think it also shows that we do need to look again at the level investment being made in the capacity we have in that system because it's quite clear to me that it's increasingly failing to cope ultimately the president of sorts also yet another wake up call when it comes to climate change a symptom of the increase in rainfall levels and more intense storms that we are facing and unless we tackle that climate crisis in the level of surface water we have to manage the scale of flooding of pollution that we need to contend with the amount of litter that has to be cleaned from our beaches and rivers will simply grow and grow. Presiding Officer communities in the border are stepping up to the mark when it comes to cleaning up their environment and in the important months ahead we as policy makers need to match their commitment when it comes to the action we take to protect our precious environment for them and all our communities. In the meantime, I want to thank each and every one of the volunteers that give up their time to put the great into the great borders river cleanup. Thank you very much Mr Smith and now Colin Christine Graham who will be followed by Martin Whitfield. Miss Graham you have four minutes. Thank you very much Presiding Officer. I too congratulate Rachel Hamilton representing the neighbouring constituency to my own on securing this debate. I represent, of course, the western side of the borders, Midlothian South Tweeddale and Lauderdale, accompanying from the Olden Hills to the Foothills of the Pentlands. I am very familiar with the root and significance of the river Tweed to the lives and the economy of the borders, as it has through the centuries from when, undoubtedly, there was a major root for early humans passing through the time when it attended the great water wheels that drove the textile industry and, of course, continued to this day as a great salmon river, all 97 miles of it. Of course, it is not all about the Tweed but its many and diverse tributaries, water courses, which feed it on its path as it rises high up in Tweed's Muir, very humbly, through to England, to Berwick and to the Sea via, of course, pebils, innerleithan, galla sheils and melrose. The waterways that feed into it such as Edelston Water, Turford, Burnett, Erlston, Leithan Water, innerleithan, galla water, obviously galla, to name but a few are equally important in the cleaning process. However, like others, I cannot, of course, speak on this issue without first recognising the pivotal role of Tom Brawson, teachers in Mary's Prime in Melrose and indifatigable environmental activists. He is engaged with riverside communities along these waterways, as well as the river itself, in the clean-up and it's synchronised so that, one day across the constituents, across the borders, communities are involved in their local clean-up, taking ownership of their own waterway. Indeed, as others have said, over 450 borders turned out to clean up the mess of the minority, a minority ignorant and caring about the damage to the environment and indeed to wildlife and the health of the river, that they are fortunate enough to have navigating past their community. 22 bags of litter were collected in the Turford, Burnett, Erlston one Saturday. Erlston is another example when cleanup extends also to ensuring natural debris is cleared. Indeed, the Erlston water project has planted along its path vegetation and also diverted the river to make the water to snake more, to slow its path, helping it to reduce the prospect of flooding downstream, especially tweedgain and pebbles, which has been all too common. Flood prevention, as we know, hardly needs to be said, starts upstream. Those who despoil our waterways, whether it's plastic, debris or pesticide, should be held to account and prosecuted. They should be reported to SIPA or to the council environmental department. No one should desist from reporting people doing this. It can be done discreetly. I applaud the majority and, of course, the volunteers and the biggest volunteer, Tom Rawlston, the good guys. I thank them for detecting the tweedgain and her varied waterways. We mortals are merely passing through as generations of our predecessors have done before us. We are custodians of our environment. We should leave our rivers, the river tweedgain, our waterways better than we found them. Cleaner, clearer. Thank you very much, Ms Graham. I now call Martin Whitfield, who will be followed by Carol Mocken. Mr Whitfield, four minutes as well. I'm very grateful and can I just extend my congratulations to you, which I haven't managed to do as deputy presiding officer for some while. It's a great pleasure to follow the speech of Christine Graham, who was right, firstly, obviously, to thank all of the volunteers, but also to hold to account those individuals who recklessly tip and dump in the rivers. If they didn't do that, our volunteers wouldn't need to do so much work. I'd also like to congratulate Rachel Hamilton on this member's debate this evening. It is a great pleasure to come together in this Chamber to thank people who genuinely do work, not seeking publicity, not even really seeking thanks, just seeking the enjoyment of being together and doing good for their communities. Obviously, the Great Borders River Clean is a fine example of that, funded by the Falgo Environment Fund, which, when it was set up, was done so to enhance the quality of life for local communities and visitors to the borders through investment in protection, enhancement and appreciation of the natural, the built and the cultural heritage of the Scottish Borders environment. It is a great credit to both EDF renewables and Roxburgh State that they required these to be encompassed within the thoughts behind the funding that they provide. That brings us, of course, to the Great Borders Clean-up itself. If we look slightly wider at indeed River Clean-up, which is a worldwide group of river warriors, they estimate some 8 billion kilograms of waste end up in our seas and oceans having transported down our rivers, the very arteries of our society. To think of that 8 billion, 2,000 kilograms were removed by the Great Borders volunteers, by those 453 people who gave up their time. To give you some idea of the volume of that, it would take approximately 50 small plastic disposable bottles to make up a kilogram. You think about the large articles that were dragged across farmers fields. You think about the bags that were collected to go to landfill and think how much easier it would have been for the individuals to put them in the bin themselves rather than expect others to gather them together. But here we are, and between May and June last year 750 teams around the world worked on cleaning up their rivers because they recognised the importance of their rivers to their community, to communication, to the wildlife and to the future that they want to leave their children. Those arteries make their way to the sea, which brings me to mention surfers against sewage, which I have mentioned in other places and the phenomenal work that they do on beaches with regard to the cleanup, and not just organising clean-ups but organising surveys. In August, the 11th of August indeed, the brand audit report came out from the surfers and it highlighted, after a million miles of beach clean, exactly where this rubbish comes from. They identified the dirty dozen, the 12 companies around the world that are responsible for almost three quarters of all the plastic and packaging pollution that ends up going into the sea and then twice in 24 hours with the tides gets washed back ashore. We have 13 beaches in south of Scotland that recognise, with the Scotland's beach awards, communities that have looked after their beaches to meet the criteria of access, facility, safety, local environmental quality, community and heritage. I take this moment just to remind people that between the 17th and 26th of September you can attend your local beach for the beach clean-up here in Scotland. I urge you to do so because I know that the volunteers will be there. Time is short, but I just want to mention one idea that I hope the minister can consider. I realise that it is not within her gift, but maybe to promote. That is something that has been organised by the Scottish Borders Council, by the People's Project in Dumfries and Galloway, and indeed by the East Lothian countryside volunteers. That is a library of litter collection equipment, plastic bags, gloves and litter pickers, so that our volunteers can go out and do their best. The Destiny project in Preston Pans spent last weekend clearing up fly tipping from visitors who decided to set up camp in one of our fields, and off their own bats, and again not because of publicity, just because it was the right thing to do, they went and collected up that rubbish. In conclusion, I want to reflect many of the speeches, which rightly say thank you to the volunteers, because they are taking care of their community in a way that is special and individual to them. It is about time that all of us thought, what does that happen if you just drop that plastic bottle? Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. Thank you very much, Mr Workfield. I now call on Carl Mochan, who will be the final speaker in this open debate. Ms Mochan, you have four minutes as well. Lovely. Thank you, Deputy Presiding Officer. I also start by thanking all the volunteers and the boarders who participated in the great border river cleanup this year and in previous years, and also to the member, Rachel Hamilton, for securing a member's debate on this issue. It is important that actions from local communities are spoken about and acknowledged here in the Scottish Parliament. Over 400 people from a number of villages across the Scottish boarders are all working together to not only demonstrate the strength of spirit of towns and villages pulling together to tackle a common cause but also show where we need to act to treat the natural environment that we rely on and must take responsibility for. In many parts of the south of Scotland, as people have said, communities are quite rightly concerned about the environment, about littering and fly tipping. Many communities have taken excellent direct action events, such as the river clean litter picks and beach clear-ups, mentioned by Martin. The benefits of cleaning green space are rivers and are fields and, undoubtedly, have many advantages from the aesthetics of attracting tourists to the beautiful towns and villages across the borders and beyond to environmental benefits, education, teaching people from an early age to respect the environment and understand the damage of plastics and overconsumption of goods that, undoubtedly, previous generations have succumbed to. The Great Borders river clean-up, as it aims to do, has brought into sharp focus the scale of the problem and that we are facing 3,000 kilograms of rubbish pulled from a Borders river in one weekend. What a throw-away society we live in. This shocking figure, the organisers hope, will raise awareness of the effects of the issue and may help to change behaviours and reduce the amount of litter entering the natural environment. That is very much needed. Young people across the planet are telling us to act now. They are instructing us to take this issue seriously. We must, as a Parliament, accept our responsibilities. We must do more and take responsibility to ensure legislation and funding to prevent the causes of such environmental problems. We must be serious about a zero-way Scotland. We need to use the evidence that we have to move on education to seek local authorities to respond to the reasons identified, whether it be socioeconomic problems or barriers to accessing services or education around changes in behaviour. I would like to end by saying just how important this subject is. I hope that we will return to the chamber many times to demonstrate that we take this subject very seriously. That would be the best thank-you that we could offer the volunteers. Before I close, I once again commend the great Borders River cleanup and thank all the volunteers. I now invite Mary McCallant to respond to the debate, minister. You have around seven minutes. Thank you very much, Presiding Officer, and congratulations to Rachel Hamilton for securing this important member's motion. I thank everyone who stayed tonight to contribute, and I welcome their views. Just on the theme of thank-yous, I begin my response on behalf of the Scottish Government by once again offering our sincere thanks to two groups of people. Firstly, to Scotland's incredible waste and resources key workers, who, during an anxious and difficult time, have worked tirelessly to keep our vital systems operating. Those of us who were able to could work from home. They went out and kept our environment clean, and I want to thank them and all of Scotland's key workers for that. I also extend this Government's thanks to our communities and volunteers, who also rallied to the enormous challenges of the pandemic, keeping communities together as we had to stay apart, and to everyone who dedicated themselves to causes such as keeping our natural environment enjoyable for all. Volunteer week always shines a spotlight on the efforts of volunteers, including those in the Great Borders River Clean, but there are countless groups across the country who faithfully clear up our beautiful countryside. I was really pleased to join a litter pick in Rigside in my own Clydesdale constituency last week, and I want to take the opportunity to thank those volunteers as well. They work tirelessly for our people and for our planet. Despite my thanks, it is clear that clearing up our waterways should not fall to volunteers. There have been so many varied points made tonight, and I would love to pick up on them all, but in my closing remarks I want to focus on something that I think progress needs to be made on. That is the Scottish Government's plans for litter and fly tipping, just as Emma Harper asked me to outline. Before I do that, I want to pick up on a couple of points that have been made throughout. Rachel Hamilton mentioned riparian tree planting and other forms of support. I had the privilege of visiting a natural tree regeneration project in the Cairn Gorms over the summer and saw firsthand how the river began to adapt to the natural regeneration of woodland around it and how life returned. It was a wonderful thing to see. She also mentioned future farming policy. I am very pleased to see my colleague, Mary Gougeon, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs, announce the future farming implementation board as part of the Government's 100 days. It will drive forward the future farming policy. I know firsthand just how ready Scotland's farmers are to contribute to supporting biodiversity, tackling climate change all while continuing to produce sustainable healthy food. Colin Smyth rightly picks up on the point about sewage outflows. I agree with much of what he said. I think that there are two points to stress. First, as I think he set out, this is a really vital mechanism to ensure that it does not back up into homes and businesses when there is adverse weather. He also pointed out that that is recurring. It is important for us all to accept that the impact of climate change begins to be felt. Extreme weather conditions are going to become more accustomed to them. I agree that, just as we all must adapt to climate change, the Scottish Government must be ready to do as well. I have asked my officials to work with Scotchwater and SEPA, who are already investing heavily in this, to ensure that we are keeping up-to-date with the climate emergency and the implications of it. I like the idea that a little girl in my own life, when I asked at the beginning of the summer holidays what she was going to be doing, told me that I had ordered a litter picking kit from South Lanarkshire Council, so I thought, my gosh, how times have changed, but young people are so alive to these issues. I like the idea. I want to stress that I want to return to one of the points that I want to stress tonight. Fly tipping, littering, it is illegal, it is dangerous, it is unnecessary and there is no excuse for it anywhere in Scotland. Our environment is blighted by it, valuable resources that could form part of our circular economy if recycled, they are wasted and tax payers and landowners bear the brunt of the cleanup. I am acutely aware that fly tipping is not something that has happened just because of a pandemic, it was a problem before. However, there is no doubt that it created new challenges. As people spent more time in their homes and communities, the problem was noticed more. A whole lot of hard work went into helping our waste and resources industry to minimise disruption during lockdowns. Again, I just want to praise those workers who kept everything flowing, as it were. There is evidence that the incidence of fly tipping in littering has decreased as waste services, just like everything else in life, began to creep back to something more like normality. Despite that, the Government is preparing to renew our commitment to tackling the problem with a new approach and accelerated action to address it. We know that the current policy and political landscape is very different from when our national littering strategy was first published. We are now facing the climate emergency, we are out of the EU against our wishes and we are navigating a global pandemic. Ahead of COP26 in Glasgow this year, we have been working on developing a new litter and fly tipping strategy, which will recognise that these are different issues that both require prominence and a tailored approach. The Scottish Government has committed to publish this refreshed and updated strategy in early 2022. I will publish a consultation later in the year to outline the key actions in the new strategy, including looking at where legislation may need to be renewed or updated. It will be developed in close collaboration with our key stakeholders, including SEPA, Zero Waste Scotland, Keep Scotland Beautiful and, of course, local authorities, who are responsible for and best placed to make decisions on waste prioritisation. I am very grateful to give way and it is welcome to see new thinking and rethinking indeed regarding tipping. Does the policy recognise that there are a sort of fundamental separation in those that flytip, the commercial businesses that flytip, in essence for profit for themselves, as well as people, individuals who flytip for want of access or some of the lame excuses to not being able to take things to the tip? Will the policy reflect the differences in those that do tip? I am very grateful to the member for that really important point. I think that nuance is something that I am very determined to be part of this consultation because to address the issue, we have to understand its causes. I was just going to point out that someone who lives in a rural location and has personal experience and frustrations of littering and flytipping being done in and around my home, I am determined that this consultation and this exercise will reflect lived experience. I noted in the stakeholders that you mentioned, minister. You did not mention police. I know my many years here that police and SEPA work together when we had commercial operators dumping poisonous waste, undercutting reasonable and conventional environmental disposal people and getting undercutting them in price and dumping it wherever they are lined. Could it be possible to include the police in the stakeholders that you mentioned? I agree with you that littering and flytipping is a criminal offence and the police should absolutely be involved in the development of the policy. I am conscious that I am running short of time, but, in summary, I want to stress that we recognise and we celebrate the value of kindness, which is inherent in volunteering. We want to ensure that everybody who wants to volunteer can, but I also trust that I have made it clear that this Government is determined to tackle the causes of littering and flytipping and environmental damage and to focus on prevention so that it does not fall to our volunteers to deal with the consequences. In doing that, we can clean up our beautiful natural environment, deliver a truly circular economy and all the economic benefits that come with that, and we can together build a just and fair transition to net zero. Thank you very much. Minister, that concludes this debate, and I close this meeting of Parliament.