News and Updates

 An invitation to participate

Scotland’s Landscape Alliance Executive Committee is committed to keeping Scotland’s landscape community updated with the work of the SLA.

We know we need to accelerate the changes required to address the issues we face around climate change, public health and wellbeing and to deliver inclusive economic growth. We believe that Scotland’s landscape should be recognised as part of the critical infrastructure and solutions needed for our recovery and to deliver Scotland’s National Outcomes.

We are engaging with the new Government and others to help advance our aims set out in our call to action Landscape and Place for Success (Read here) and three detailed position statements launched last year Landscape and Resilience to Environmental Challenges (Read here);  Landscape for Health and Wellbeing (Read here); Landscape, Land use and the Economy(Read here).

The Executive committee has worked hard to develop an action strategy based on mapping public policy opportunities and agreed common areas of overlap between the Nature Scot and the HES 5-year Action Plan and the SLA’s recommendations. We are now seeking your assistance to help the SLA continue to actively engage and influence those who make decisions about Scotland’s landscapes and places.

We now invite you to participate in three focussed, time limited discussion groups to respond to upcoming opportunities with the aim of assisting the Scottish Government in its plans for: –

1. The Draft Climate Action Plan and the Just Transition Commission’s Report– developing an approach to large scale landscape change to meet the future pressures from agriculture, renewables and forestry and to support related rural employment
2. 30 by 30 Targets – understanding what the integration of landscape and biodiversity to help tackle climate change will mean for Scotland’s protected areas and
3. The Environment Strategy – identifying landscape indicators to link to the Strategy’s Vision as well as our National Outcomes and the UNSDGs
4. Responding to the Social Renewable Advisory Board’s Report “If not now, when?” – suggesting how landscape can help address the issues of inequality and exclusion faced by those in our deprived communities/sectors through access to locally available, quality greenspace and green infrastructure for climate adaptation, health and wellbeing, recreation, learning, play, food growing and community cohesion. 

For each topic we are looking for a lead from the landscape community to develop the SLA’s response.

Please let us know how you can be involved in our discussions by completing our short survey here.

Please have your responses in by 1pm on July 30^th

The aim is bring the landscape community together to  debate these policy opportunities at an event on 7th October 2021 at the Burgh Halls Linlithgow. More details to follow.