By Scottish Land and Estates chief executive, Sarah-Jane Laing

My first wish for 2022 is that this will be the last year of this awful pandemic. We have all been living in extremely difficult times, but I am heartened by the resilience shown by rural communities across Scotland. We need greater certainty for the future to enable us to all recover and grow.

My second wish is for more progress in creating a smooth transition to a new programme of support for rural Scotland to replace the CAP. Land in Scotland is coming under multiple pressures and we need the right support and understanding of the issues to have workable, coherent policies.

My third wish is for COP26 to have a meaningful legacy. Governments need to turn these words and positive pledges into transformational change, and not take the easy option of offshoring these problems. We all need to act before it is too late and address both sides of the equation and not overly focus on carbon offsetting.

My final wish is for recognition of the fantastic job land managers are doing. Any future debate on land use in Scotland should be respectful, evidence-led and not hinder the substantial progress land managers have made in addressing the climate and nature emergencies while still producing food, drink, fuel, jobs and an outstanding tourism offering.