Landscape Leadership

Shaping Scotland's landscapes for future generations

Leading the movement towards sustainable land management in Scotland

Our new Landscape Leadership programme enables ambitious and forward-looking individuals to take action against the biggest challenges facing Scotland and the world: wildlife collapse and climate change.

The programme brings together a network of leaders who want to work collaboratively towards a sustainable land management movement in Scotland.

Participants develop the strategic and leadership skills needed to make transformative environmental change at a landscape scale.

What is Landscape Leadership?

The goal of the programme is to enable, empower, and connect influential leaders across Scotland, building their capacity to make change. This will feed into an environmental movement in Scotland that will embed positive change across the rural sector.

Why are we running the programme?

We are facing potentially devastating impacts of climate change, and we need land management that provides environmental, economic and social benefits, to help build a more resilient rural sector.

Who is involved?

David Michie, Deputy Director at Soil Association Scotland, programme lead
Emma Cooper, programme facilitator and coach
Stephen Young, Head of Policy at Scottish Land & Estates

Programme activities

The pilot programme was delivered over the course of two residential sessions and a series of online webinars between January and October 2020.

The residential sessions took place at Drumlanrig Castle and Loch Lomond, before the lockdown in Scotland required us to move online.

Participants worked towards a Landscape Management Plan to balance economic, social and environmental priorities within the landscape they manage, influence policy in Scotland, and engage with communities and stakeholders.

Leadership coaching between sessions helped participants turn their aspirations into tailored project plans they can act on.

Programme participants 2020

We were delighted by the mix of landowners who participated in the 2020 pilot programme, comprising land owners, managers, NGOs an a community trust. Collectively, the group manage over 75,000 acres of land, and despite a diverse set of aims and priorities, all were united in their desire to restore nature and mitigate climate change for Scotland’s future generations.

Want to get involved?

If you’re interested in learning more about the 2020 pilot programme, or want to hear news of future programmes, we would love to hear from you.