Sustainable Development in Practice Conference
"Delivering multiple benefits from our land: Sustainable Development in Practice" is the theme for the biennial SRUC-SEPA conference, in association with the James Hutton Institute, Forest Research and Scottish Natural Heritage.
Some of the questions being tackled at the conference include:
- How can an ecosystem approach be applied to all land use planning decisions?
- How best to address climate change issues while maintaining food and energy security?
- How can rural renewable energy sources help meet energy demands?
- How can farming and forestry systems contribute to increased ecosystem service delivery?
- How best to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from rural land uses while maintaining profitable agriculture and forestry sectors?
This conference will seek to present the best possible scientific understanding of the complexities associated with meeting such potentially competing demands. It will also provide a forum to discuss how researchers and policy makers can help support land managers deliver multiple benefits within a thriving rural economy and thereby ensure that sustainable development is achievable.
The conference will have four main themes:
- What do we need to know in order to incorporate the delivery of multiple benefits into planning and policies?
- What do we need to do to deliver integrated land management planning and policies on the ground?
- What opportunities are there to develop a low carbon economy as well as maintain multiple benefits from our land?
- What type of information and advisory systems do we need to deliver integrated land management in practice?
Several researchers from the James Hutton Institute will be speaking at the conference:
- Integrating planning and land management through delivery of public policy, Professor David Miller
- Renewable energy from land: opportunities and constraints, Willie Towers
- Assessing water and soil quality rural development options for their potential to deliver multiple benefits, Dr Kit Macleod.
Full details of the programme and booking information can be found on the SRUC-SEPA 2014 conference page.
