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Land

How we protect Scotland’s land

Scotland’s land is essential to our health, economy, and environment. It supports farming, forestry, development, and recreation—while also playing a vital role in biodiversity, water and air quality, and climate resilience.

SEPA regulates activities that may pollute or degrade land, ensuring it remains healthy and productive. We do this by:

• Enforcing regulations that protect land from harmful activities
• Providing expert guidance on sustainable land use
• Monitoring soil quality and land condition
• Supporting flood risk management and carbon storage through healthy soils

We also work to understand and manage the pressures on land—such as agriculture, forestry, and development—so that it can continue to serve communities and ecosystems now and in the future.

Explore this section to learn how we help safeguard Scotland’s land and soil.

What we regulate

• Activities that may contaminate or degrade land
• Land use planning and development
• Agricultural practices and soil management
• Forestry operations and land drainage
• Remediation of contaminated land

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