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Scotlands Mountains: Key Issues for Their Future Management

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Scotlands Mountains: Key Issues for Their Future Management Scotland’s Mountains: Key Issues for their Future Management Martin F. Price, Benjamin J. Dixon, Charles R. Warren and Andrew R. Macpherson This report should be cited as follows: Price, Martin F., Dixon, Benjamin J., Warren, Charles R. & Macpherson Andrew R. (2002). Scotland’s Mountains: Key Issues for their Future Management. Scottish Natural Heritage, Battleby. ISSN 1350-3111 This report or any part of it should not be reproduced without the permission of Scottish Natural Heritage and M.F. Price which will not be unreasonably withheld. Scotland’s Mountains: Key Issues for their Future Management Foreword As a contribution to the International Year of Mountains (IYM), 2002, Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH) is pleased to publish this overview of the conservation and management needs of Scotland’s mountain areas. This is a detailed account of many activities undertaken under the auspices of the IYM. The report is distinctive in at least two regards. First, it is based to a large extent on interviews with specialists, advisors, policy makers, politicians and many others; this provides a freshness and sharpness to the content of the report. Second, it comes from external, academic sources; the authors are based at the Centre for Mountain Studies at Perth College (an academic partner of the UHI Millennium Institute), Imperial College, and at the Department of Geography and Geosciences, University of St Andrews. For the first time in Scotland, we have a comprehensive analysis of information and experience across mountain land use, conservation and the local economy, notably from a sustainable stance. Indeed, the consideration of sustainable mountain development issues provides a clear analysis of integrated approaches to caring for mountain areas. The report transcends the breadth of interests affecting Scotland’s land, freshwater and nature in mountain areas. The conclusion, that we need to work harder at integrated approaches to supporting policy development, should be acted upon quickly. The dearth of some basic information and statistics, which limits both reporting on trends within Scotland, as well as comparisons with other mountain areas in Europe, is currently being addressed by SNH and other Government Agencies. The EU Water Framework Directive and Scotland’s proposed Land Reform legislation will have quite different but significant impacts on the management and enjoyment of mountain areas, and on the information bases we need to support these activities. SNH hopes to draw from this report in order to generate a greater understanding of the way that Scotland’s mountain land is managed and enjoyed for the benefit of all. Whilst the report does not consider the history of government and sectoral policy issues, which have provided the upland environment of today, it provides valuable pointers to the future. Des Thompson John Mackay Principal Uplands Adviser National Strategy Manager SNH SNH 21 October 2002 i Scotland’s Mountains: Key Issues for their Future Management Contents Foreword i Acknowledgements iii 1. Introduction: mountains on the agenda 1 The global context 1 Scotland’s contributions to the International Year of Mountains 2 2. Defining Scotland’s mountains and mountain areas 4 Altitude and agricultural potential 4 Combining criteria: altitude, slope and relief 5 Ecological/land cover criteria 5 Integrated approaches: Natural Heritage Futures 10 3. Sustainable mountain development issues in Scotland 13 The concept of sustainable mountain development 13 Proposals for sustainable mountain development in Scotland 13 Examples of integrated approaches in Scotland’s mountain areas 15 Lessons learned 16 4. Defining the issues for future management 19 People: employment, services, and opportunities 20 Land ownership 24 Tourism and recreation 26 Agriculture 29 Forests and trees 32 Fieldsports: deer, grouse, and heather moorland 35 Nature and landscape conservation 38 Wild land 42 Renewable energy 44 Freshwater resources 47 Climate change 50 5. The future of Scotland’s mountain areas: Perceptions of 54 landowners, residents and recreational users Recreational users 54 Landowners 57 Key opinions 61 Summary and conclusions 63 6. Looking forward 65 Partnerships 66 Data and information: decision-making and assessing progress 68 Diversity and integration 70 References 71 Appendix 1: Initiatives towards sustainable development in Scotland’s 82 mountain areas Appendix 2: Key informants interviewed June-September 2002 89 ii Scotland’s Mountains: Key Issues for their Future Management Acknowledgements The authors would particularly like to thank Des Thompson, Iain MacGowan and John Mackay of Scottish Natural Heritage, and Evelyn Sword of Davidson Pre-Press for facilitating the timely publication of this report. We would also like to thank all of the interviewees and all those who answered the questionnaire for their time, and the following people for providing information and feedback as the report developed: Geoff Smith Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Monk’s Wood Bob Dunsmore Forestry Commission Diana Gilbert Highland Birchwoods Christine Macleod Bob Shannon, Highland Council Julie Campbell Highland and Islands Partnership Programme Richard Birnie Macaulay Institute John Coll North Highland College David Rennie Scottish Enterprise Dumfries and Galloway Bill Band, John Mackay, Scottish Natural Heritage Richard Robinson, Des Thompson, John Gordon, Sally Johnson, Philippa Vigano, Mark Wrightham Pip Tabor Southern Uplands Partnership Martin Price Centre for Mountain Studies, Perth College, UHI Millennium Institute Ben Dixon Department of Environmental Science and Technology, Imperial College (now at The Bridgespan Group, Boston MA, USA) Charles Warren School of Geography and Geosciences, University of St. Andrews Andrew Macpherson Centre for Mountain Studies, Perth College, UHI Millennium Institute iii Scotland’s Mountains: Key Issues for their Future Management 1. Introduction: mountains on the agenda For many people, in Scotland and other countries, our country is epitomised by open mountain landscapes with rocky peaks. Scotland’s mountains cover a considerable proportion of the nation’s area, and have an iconic value. But do most Scots – and those responsible for managing and caring for, and indeed formulating policies that affect our mountains – perceive them as important? The principal aim of this report is to consider the various ways in which Scotland’s mountain areas are important and how these values might be sustained. The global context Similar questions are being asked at the global scale, given that mountains cover 24% of the Earth’s land surface (Kapos et al., 2000) and are home to about 12% of the global population (FAO, 2002). Census information and analysis of the light visible from the Earth at night suggest that 1.48 billion people – 26% of humanity – live in or very near to mountains (Meybeck et al., 2001). These statistics alone suggest that mountains must have a global importance; yet they are also vital to an even greater proportion of the global population, particularly as: • the principal sources of freshwater – all of the world’s major rivers rise in mountains; • centres of biodiversity, including the original varieties of many major food crops; • sources of raw material – especially forest products and minerals; • destinations for tourism and recreation for the inhabitants of an increasingly urbanised world; and • because they include sites that are sacred to all of the world’s major religions (Messerli and Ives, 1997). Until recently, mountains were generally not regarded as an important topic on policy or political agendas – except in a few countries where mountains occupy a significant part of the country’s area and where there was a strong lobby in favour of their economic development. In many countries with a significant mountain population and area, they were regarded from capital cities – often in the lowlands – as of marginal economic and political importance. Equally, mountain resources were primarily viewed as being available for exploitation, with little regard to the impacts on mountain people or to the potential benefits which exploitation of these resources might bring to them. Since the early 1990s, however, the global importance of mountains has been increasingly recognised internationally. At the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED, or Earth Summit), held in Rio de Janeiro in 1992, mountains were finally placed on the global environment and development agenda by being given a specific chapter in ‘Agenda 21’, the plan for action endorsed by the heads of state or government of most of the world’s nations. Chapter 13 of this document is entitled “Managing Fragile Ecosystems: Sustainable Mountain Development”. Its inclusion in this seminal global document gives mountain issues similar standing to other global issues such as climate change and loss of biodiversity. These issues are closely linked. For instance, mountainous ecosystems are mentioned in Paragraph 8(g) of Article 4 of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change as requiring special consideration with regard to the adverse effects of climate change and the need for response measures; and the retreat of glaciers around the world is regarded by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change as among the most unequivocal evidence of climate change (Houghton et al., 2001). Similarly, the importance of mountain areas as centres of biological diversity is shown, for example, by 1 Scotland’s
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