1 research outputs found
Understanding similarities and differences in land use visions for Scotland
The successful transition towards a global society that can live within planetary
boundaries is one of the greatest challenges for the twenty-first century.
Sustainable land use and land management will be essential to ensure the
continued delivery of the ecosystem goods and services needed to support a
rapidly growing global population. To support the transition towards sustainable
development, decision-makers need to better understand how land use change
affects people and the environment. However, these insights are of limited use
without societal agreement on future land uses. Understanding synergies and
differences between land use visions forms a first step in assessing and comparing
alternative pathways towards a sustainable future.
This thesis uses a range of methods to understand visions of future land use
amongst professional land use stakeholders, society at large, and young people in
Scotland. Twenty semi-structured interviews were held with policy experts from
the Scottish land use sectors. A nationwide statistically representative web-based
survey provided insight into the visions of the Scottish population. And finally, a
novel visual interview methodology was used to interview 26 pupils from two high
schools in Perthshire. Inductive content analysis and descriptive statistics were
used to analyse the results and understand and compare the land use visions of
these different groups.
As expected, different groups had different visions of future land use. There was,
however, general agreement on certain themes, in particular the desire for a more
sustainable lifestyle and the importance of a healthy environment.
The sectoral stakeholders would like to see more partnerships, dialogue and
collaboration; a society that is more engaged and aware about land use; resilient
local economies; and short-, medium-, and long-term policies that help to achieve
these goals. One of the key challenges for these groups will be how to translate
abstract concepts such as ‘healthy ecosystem’ and ‘dialogue and partnerships’ into
practice. This clearly requires a shared understanding of what a ‘healthy
ecosystem’ means to different stakeholders, as well as appreciation of what true
dialogue means and how this can be used to co-create solutions – potentially a
radical change from the traditional top-down approaches.
The research also identified divisions in Scottish society between those who want
to continue a ‘status quo’ lifestyle, and those – in particular younger people (who
spent time in the natural environment, through either school or home life) and
those from a higher socio-economic background – who want a more sustainable
lifestyle and to be more connected with the natural environment. These results are
important, as policy makers need to be able to identify the factors that have
successfully engaged certain groups and to promote these factors. Programmes
that provide access to the natural environment (such as the Duke of Edinburgh’s
Award) need to ensure equal opportunities by targeting disadvantaged groups.
Simultaneously, it needs to be explored how to encourage those who would like to
continue a ‘status quo’ lifestyle into a more sustainable one. Past research has
shown how preferences can be influenced and how changes can be initiated by
incentives and restrictions in order to promote desired behaviours. The power of
the media should be leveraged: programmes such as BBC’s ‘Blue Planet’ highlight
how our lifestyle choices impact on the natural environment and can provide the
motivation for change.
The current issues surrounding Brexit and Climate Change require a national
conversation; using methods such as those presented in the thesis to elicit land use
visions can help identify the commonalties and differences between stakeholders’
views. This can provide a starting point for dialogue and critical reflection on
current instruments and objectives, and how they might be adapted to better
reflect Scottish preferences and conditions