The environmental implications of redistributive land reform

Transcription

1 The environmental implications of redistributive land reform Thursday 25 August 2016 Dr Calum Macleod University of Edinburgh, School of GeoSciences Dr Jayne Glass University of the Highlands and Islands, Centre for Mountain Studies (Perth College UHI) Malcolm Combe University of Aberdeen, School of Law

2 @MalcolmCombe

3 Dr Calum Macleod University of Edinburgh, School of GeoSciences

4 The Land Question

5 Without philanthropists, megalomaniacs and serious sportsmen pouring cash in to maintain these difficult places, their communities, and so the environment, would suffer.

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8 Land reform as measures that modify or change the arrangements governing the possession and use of land in Scotland (Land Reform Review Group, The Land of Scotland and the Common Good, 2014)

9 The vast majority of land in Scotland is owned by the private sector. Landowners are instrumental in promoting sustainable local development and supporting communities. However, in some instances the scale or pattern of land ownership, and the decisions of landowners, can be a barrier to sustainable development in an area. Scottish Government Land Reform Consultation 2014

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11 Scotland s land reform process.. Top-down (state sanctioned) Land Reform Act 2003 Community Empowerment Act 2015 Land Reform Act 2016 HIE & SG institutional support Scottish Land Fund ( 10M p/a) Bottom-up (privileging rural and urban communities)

12 [Indyref2?] Brexit? Minority Govt?

13 Developing a coherent policy framework Balancing property rights & human rights Interpreting public interest & the common good Implementing sustainable development

14 Dr Jayne Glass University of the Highlands and Islands, Centre for Mountain Studies (Perth College UHI)

15 Communities are to be given the right to acquire land To further sustainable development abandoned wellbeing harm benefit public interest community?

16 Sustainable development one of the slipperiest pieces of soap you are ever likely to find in the shower Peter Woodward, facilitator, Shell Expo SD workshop, March many of the key details of a sustainable lifestyle will be idiosyncratic to a particular community located in a particular place with a distinctive ecology and will be intelligible only as a part of the history of that place, which we have interpreted as including both the landscape and the peoples that live there. Bryan Norton - Sustainability: a philosophy of adaptive ecosystem management, 2005

17 Where does the environment sit? an integrated approach that considers social, economic and environmental sustainability together?

18 Two important threads in land use policy 1. Delivering multiple benefits Glass et al. (2013) Lairds, Land and Sustainability, Chapter 2

19 Two important threads in land use policy 2. Linking people with the land

20 When is the landowner a barrier to SD? The vast majority of land in Scotland is owned by the private sector. Landowners are instrumental in promoting sustainable local development and supporting communities. However, in some instances the scale or pattern of land ownership, and the decisions of landowners, can be a barrier to sustainable development in an area. Land Reform consultation 2014

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27 The landowner s role? Links to recent SG research on diversity of ownership scale and other projects:

28 Proactive actions? Engaging in planning beyond the estate Conserving cultural heritage Engaging communities in decision-making and management Long-term planning Adapting management Delivering community needs and projects Reduced carbon impact Maximising carbon storage Enhancing biodiversity Maintaining and improving catchments Facilitating employment and people development Adding value to business(es)

29 Long-term planning Adapting management Reduced carbon impact Maximising carbon storage Enhancing biodiversity Maintaining and improving catchments

30 A spectrum of activity Restoring and expanding priority habitats and species Delivering conservation goals in designated areas Habitat/species degradation, persecution

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32 Malcolm Combe University of Aberdeen, School of Law

33 What do we mean by land reform?

34 Reform for ALL landowners

35 Reform to change owner. But why? Restitution? [Subsistence] agriculture? Retention/revitalisation of communities. Enterprise. Social justice. Breaking a monopoly. The environment?

36 Ownership [use] and the environment Culbin Forest Licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license (attribution: Nick R)

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43 Not in Scotland

44 but this is in Scotland

45 Human impact on St Kilda Terraced agricultural on Boreray? Mice? Image credit -

46 Use or ownership? Dominium usus, fructus, abusus Property rights are of fundamental importance as they have an impact on the status of the ultimate resource from which all prospects for development, production and conservation in uplands are derived. Chapter 1 of Jayne Glass, Martin F Price, Charles Warren and Alister Scott (eds), Lairds, Lands and Sustainability: Scottish Perspectives on Upland Management (2013), 4

47 Owner/Land Manager choices James Hunter s observation, now found in his 2015 book on the Sutherland clearances. Whilst conservation laws might mitigate that now, owner choices can still have environmental impact. Image credit Massimo Catarinella, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license

48 Ownership reform models Landlord [Former] Tenant Non-community owner Community owner

49 Conversion of tenant to owner? (sort of) Council housing (not anymore) (NB environmental effect of such a change is likely to be inversely proportional to the rights formerly held qua tenant.)

50 Towards community ownership In Scotland: Non-statutory schemes (particularly in the 90s). Transfer of Crofting Estates (Scotland) Act 1997.

51 Land Reform Policy Group Lord Sewel s LRPG highlighted a key role for community ownership. Found legislative form in Parts 2 and 3 of the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003.

52 The environment and the LRPG Within sustainable development, but not standalone. In Identifying the Solutions at para 3.2 (drawing on consultation responses), one key theme was: increased diversity in the way land is owned and used, as the best way of dealing with damage to the local community or environment which can result from monopoly ownership, and of encouraging the fullest possible exploitation of rural development opportunities.

53 Where has Part 2 been [in]effective and are there environmental implications? Holmehill? thwarting development? Lochwinnoch? Image credit BBC

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56 What about Part 3? Galson/other Hebridean locations. Pairc? Environmental impact?

57 Non-statutory acquisitions

58 Eigg UK gold Ashden award for energy efficiency in After an initial perception that the community would not necessarily be good for the environment (detailed by Jim Hunter in his text on community ownership).

59 Community Empowerment? New part 3A is to be inserted into the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 by Community Empowerment (Scotland) Act 2015, s. 74. Communities to be given the right to acquire land if (in opinion of Scottish ministers): a) it is wholly or mainly abandoned or neglected, or b) the use or management of the land is such that it results in or causes harm, directly or indirectly, to the environmental wellbeing of a relevant community.

60 Environmental Wellbeing harm includes environmental effects which have an adverse effect on the lives of persons comprising the relevant community, but does not include harm which, in the opinion of Ministers, is negligible.

61 What might it catch? Boarded-up shops? Unoccupied houses? Algae-infested ponds? Social implications?

62 Environmental 2015 Act. wellbeing? EWB apparently includes social considerations. well-being? Regulation 4 of the Disposal of Land by Local Authorities (Scotland) Regulations 2010 (SSI 2010/160) four purposes: economic development or regeneration; health; social well-being; or EW-B.

63 Environment in new LR Act? Part 5 community right to acquire to further sustainable development, where: environment is a recognised subset of SD; and environmental wellbeing is part of the extra test for compulsory transfer to further SD. Scottish Land Commission expertise or experience in environmental issues is a relevant consideration for Scottish Ministers in appointing SLC. [Also features in relation to deer management.]

64 Is it all about what a community can do for the environment? What if there is no community?

65 The environmental implications of redistributive land reform Thursday 25 August 2016 Dr Calum Macleod University of Edinburgh, School of GeoSciences Dr Jayne Glass University of the Highlands and Islands, Centre for Mountain Studies (Perth College UHI) Malcolm Combe University of Aberdeen, School of Law