Joseph Holden: Sharing ideas will shape future of our uplands

What many people do not realise is that science has had a tendency to make more rapid progress when there is conflict and difficulty. That could be a conflict between two scientists who disagree on how

something works or it could be a global conflict such as a war.

However, at the University of Leeds we have been working on a major five-year science project funded by the Economic and Social Research Council called Sustainable Uplands which tries to reduce conflict and create consensus. It tries to give people the information needed to make informed decisions about the future of the uplands.

The uplands of the UK are a vital resource for the economy. To many they seem like isolated environments, a world away from the majority of the population who live in towns and cities in the lowlands.

However, they are the source of much of our drinking water and many river flooding events, an important recreation area and a production area for timber and energy derived from hydroelectric and wind power. They host a massive stock of carbon in the peat that covers much of our uplands.

There is also conflict in the uplands. For example, grouse moor managers want to be able to continue to manage the land as they have done for the last two centuries in order to create a mosaic of heather of different ages to support grouse populations – enough fresh young heather shoots for eating and enough older areas of heather for nesting and shelter.

However, the traditional practice of burning to create this mosaic may seem at odds with biodiversity, carbon storage or water quality.

But what does the science tell us?

Our project has involved working with people on the ground from the very start to find out how they think things should be managed. We have organised meetings where people have thrashed out what they think their differences are. At the end of most of these meetings, people have realised that they have more things in common with each other than differences. In general, people do not want to deliberately damage the environment and make things bad for others, including people

downstream. Upland managers have no interest in doing anything to the land that might increase flood risk or decrease water quality. However, people want to be able to make a living.

Our study used information about what people's main concerns were for the uplands and where they needed scientific help. It was not about science telling people how to behave, but people telling scientists where they needed more information to help them make decisions.

The future, as always, is uncertain but our research provides more confidence to land managers about the decisions they face now and what this might mean for the future. The science currently tells us that burning heather on the hills in small patches does not seriously impact the water quality. It also tells us that blocking upland drainage ditches does not significantly impact flood risk downstream. However, burning heather does effect the biodiversity and blocking drainage ditches does enable more carbon to be taken out of the atmosphere and be deposited on the land surface – a good way of fighting global warming.

So if, as a society, we are concerned about reducing carbon emissions, then we need to not only look at energy efficiency, but we need to look to our hills. Degraded peatlands release lots of carbon into the atmosphere. Restored peatlands soak up carbon from the atmosphere allowing us to fight climate change. If we are investing in low carbon technologies in the UK, we should surely also be investing in upland management. Many companies and people talk about offsetting their carbon emissions by paying for tree planting schemes. This can surely be extended to peatland restoration and management projects. We may well see carbon and water farmers in the future.

On the other hand, in the long-term, climate change and technological improvement might mean that not only is it possible for agriculture to move up into the hills, but the world's growing population might mean we are forced to increase the amount of land in production. We may no longer be able to rely on cheap imports of food as demand from elsewhere in the world will be so high; we may be forced to produce food locally and the upland landscape may face very dramatic changes.

Humans have modified our upland landscape for at least the last 8,000 years – the upland forest cover was removed by us. That, too, was a dramatic change, but oddly one that brought benefits in terms of carbon as it enabled our peatlands to form. And peatlands store much more carbon than forests. So each management decision tends to have benefits

and problems.

The key is to come to agreements about ways forward so that benefits can be maximised and problems reduced. Through our project we have not forced a scientific opinion on anyone. Instead, our approach has been one of collaborative effort, sharing local knowledge and scientific knowledge.

By making sure that people are aware of each other's concerns and by informing people of the science of upland management we empower people. Sharing knowledge to empower people must be one of the most important things that scientists can do.

Professor Joseph Holden, from the School of Geography at the University of Leeds, is co-leader of the Sustainable Uplands project.