Upcoming SEDA LAND Events
Solving the Land Use Jigsaw
Wednesday, 17 July 2024.
Past Seda Land Events
Solving the land use jigsaw
discussion about integrated land use
at go falkland
Wednesday 17th July 2024. Time TBC
event details
Major changes to the national landscape are going to be required if Scotland is to meet its 2045 net zero target. We will need to layer many uses on to a limited supply of land using an ecosystems approach.
The Scottish Government faces tough policy decisions and there will have to be trade-ofs between competing demands, but which decisions are best made at a national, regional and local level and what form should they take?
Scientific research and modelling can inform which landscapes are compatible with our national climate objectives with current indications pointing towards the need for dramatic changes with higher rates of aforestation, re-wetting of peatland, and lower numbers of cattle and sheep.
This SEDA Land event on integrated land use could help shape the Scottish Government's delivery plan for its Third Land Use Strategy 2021-2026. We will look at how Scotland might balance the competing needs of land for food production, timber for construction and bioproducts as an alternative to fossil fuels, at the same time as allowing space for biodiversity, carbon sequestration and recreation. Should we have national strategic zoning of land use, or should this be done at a regional, or local grassroots level by organisations such as ‘farmer clusters’?
Join our expert panel representing different sectors and regions. As always we will be led by the science with two scientists talking about a new tool for assessing land uses in terms of a matrix of measurements and an approach to landscape planning that integrates social and ecological elements.
There is unlikely to be one-size-its-all and we are likely to need several systems working at diferent scales. As we decide which path to follow, we need to reimagine our future landscapes.
This event forms part of GO Falkland, the two day regenerative farming festival, following the successful introduction of a Groundswell Outreach last July.
Programme & date
Wednesday 17th July 2024.
At Go Falkland, Falkland Estate, Falkland, Fife, KY15 7AF
Time TBC
This event is free to anyone attending GO Falkland. We will let you know when tickets are available for the festival.
“A Scotland where we fully recognise, understand and value the importance of our land resources, and where our plans and decisions about land use will deliver improved and enduring benefits, enhancing the wellbeing of our nation.”
ARTISTIC INTERLUDES, especially commissioned for this event include:
Sophie Cooke, poet
Chris Powici, poet
Jessica Kerr & Glisk, musicians
THE PANEL
Chair
Lucy Filby, Head of Agriculture & Forestry Transition, SOSE.
Lucy is the Head of Land and Forestry Transition at South of Scotland Enterprise, an organisation that lives its values of being Bold, Striving, Inclusive and Responsible. She has over 20 yrs experience of building partnership projects to improve environmental outcomes in farming and wider food and drink value chains. Lucy joined SOSE 14 months ago from SEPA . This move came about because of her passionate belief that the health of our environment cannot be protected or improved without also tackling poverty and inequality. An aspiring regenerative practitioner, she loves working in the spaces between current reality and future vision. She is an advocate for business to be a force for good, growing prosperity and resilience together, within planetary limits.
Speakers
Graham Begg, Head of Agroecology, The James Hutton Institute
Graham is the Head of the Agroecology Group at the James Hutton Institute where he studies the relationship between ecosystems, farming, and food systems. This has included examining the response of natural and semi-natural plant and animal populations to changes in the arable environment and its management, and the impact of this on biodiversity and important ecosystem functions such as pest regulation, pollination, and primary production. Research is also being conducted into the longer-term impacts of farming on ecosystems and human health and wellbeing. This follows a social-ecological approach that considers the complex interactions between humans and the environment, and the impact that these have on agroecosystem and agri-food system ‘health’. This approach is being used to tackle individual problem/solution framings such as climate mitigation, agrobiodiversity loss, and malnutrition, but is also enabling us to address these in combination, i.e. one system-many goals. Working with farmers and other stakeholders is a key aspect of this research, for example establishing living labs and demonstration networks or using participatory approaches to build system models, with the aim of having real-world impact.
Catherine Payne, Senior Climate Resilience Manager, Sniffer
Cat is an unabashed climate science anorak and a committed science communicator. She has spent over 20 years working in the private, public and third sector translating climate science into meaningful messages to inspire local action. She is passionate about challenging the status quo, transformational adaptation and showcasing the multiple co-benefits that climate resilience can bring. At Sniffer Cat works on Adaptation Scotland, the Place Standard Tool and Flood Risk Management.
Grant Moir, CEO Cairngorms National Park, 4,528 km²
Grant has been CEO of the Cairngorms National Park Authority for eight years. He was previously Director of Conservation and Visitor Experience at Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority. Grant is co-chair on the UK National Parks this year, is on the National Visitor Management Group and chairs the Infrastructure and Investment sub-group, and is a member of the Scottish Government Biodiversity Programme Board.
Andrew Heald, Forestry consultant
Andrew is based in Edinburgh and has over 25 years’ experience in sustainable forestry and plantation management. He is a co-founder and Director of NGPTA1, which has developed and manages large scale forest landscape restoration projects in Ghana, Brazil, Mozambique, and Chile. He has worked for leading international forest product companies including UPM and Mondi, and for major NGOs such as WWF International and FSC International. Andrew is a professional member of the Institute of Chartered Foresters and has worked at a senior level in UK, Ghana and Uruguay. In 2020 Andrew was invited to become a member of the UK’s Government’s Expert Committee on Forest Science2 and has previously been a member of the UK’s Woodland Carbon Code’s Advisory Board, and the Expert Group on Timber Trade and Statistics.
Alison Smith, Environmental Change Institute, Oxford University
Allisona is Senior Research Associate in the Ecosystems Group at the Environmental Change Institute, where I work within the new Leverhulme Centre for Nature Recovery. I am also a Senior Associate with the Nature-based Solutions Initiative in the Department of Biology. Her first degree was in Natural Sciences (University of Cambridge) followed by an MSc in Exploration Geophysics. I worked for 15 years as a senior environmental consultant, specializing in climate change, transport, energy and waste management policy. I was then a freelance consultant and writer for a few years, and wrote The Climate Bonus: co-benefits of climate policy, which explores the additional benefits that society can gain through tackling climate change, including cleaner air, biodiversity protection, a more resource-efficient economy and healthier lifestyles. I joined the University of Oxford in 2014.
Marian Bruce, Bioregioning Tayside, 7,500 km²
After spending many years in academic research, Marian founded Highland Boundary, Scotland’s first botanical spirits distillery in 2016, where she is director and master distiller. Award- winning Highland Boundary spirits are produced on her small, re-wilded family farm at Kirklandbank in Alyth, Perthshire where she also manages livestock, holiday rental and sculpture businesses. She is also Enterprise Manager for Affric Highlands and a member of the Scottish Nature Finance Pioneers Group. As a biologist specialising in biodiversity, Marian’s understanding of the need to work with nature rather than against it is fundamental to her way of thinking.
Denise Walton, chair, Nature Friendly Farming Network (NFFN) Scotland
Denise Walton and her family took over Peelham Farm in 1993. They farm to encourage birds and pollinating insects to live on the land. They converted to organic following the CAP reform of 2002, which facilitated funding. They restored hedges and fence lines, making sure they connected so birds and wildlife can use them as a food source or for protection from predators. Denise says there needs to be a balance between productivity for livelihood and productivity for wildlife, which is why grant aid is important.