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Land Management Skills for Climate Adaptation

If our places and landscapes are to flourish in a changing climate, we need to ensure that people have the skills to manage land differently so that people and nature can thrive – from designing and maintaining natural flood management projects, to restoring peatlands, and creating sustainable, resilient woodlands. However, in Scotland we currently lack both the number of people, and the appropriate skills to implement these changes.
Climate Forth is a project delivered by the Inner Forth Futures Partnership, focused on enabling and demonstrating the action needed to transform the Inner Forth into a climate literate, ready and resilient place. It responds to the pressures faced by the Inner Forth as a result of the changing climate, flood risk, economic change, and the aftermath of COVID-19. Part of the project is focused on demonstrating innovative approaches to managing land and green spaces to build climate resilience.
In 2022, as part of the development phase of Climate Forth, Verture worked with greenspace scotland to identify the practical land-based climate adaptation skills needed in the area, and to recommend how skills gaps could be addressed. We carried out a literature review, workshops and interviews with land-based workers, decision-makers and training providers.
The research identified a strong need to upskill the existing workforce, with priorities around habitat creation and wetland management skills. Whilst there was a high demand for training, time, cost, and structural issues including low-pay and seasonal contracts all posed barriers to skills development. For the delivery phase of Climate Forth, we recommended a focus on small group skills development sessions using demonstration sites.
Our research formed part of the Inner Forth Futures Partnership’s successful £1m bid for project funding from National Lottery Heritage Fund. The project is now underway, and our recommendations are being taken forward through a contractor training programme due to launch later this year. This programme will increase the number of groundwork operatives in the area who are skilled, confident and experienced in undertaking habitat management for climate adaptation or mitigation.
