The Sustainable Uplands project is for anyone that lives, works, plays or has an interest in upland environments.

By combining experience and new ideas from local people with cutting edge natural and social science, the project aims to anticipate, monitor and sustainably manage rural change in UK Uplands.

Now in its last year, the Sustainable Uplands project has considered how our Uplands might change under future social, economic and environmental conditions. It has identified a range of innovative and practical solutions to help people cope with and harness these changes and has identified ways policy-makers can support adaptation in Britain’s hills.

How?

IDENTIFY the current needs and aspirations of the people who live, work and play in each of the site, exploring the challenges and opportunities they face in future.

ANTICIPATE future change in the Uplands and how this will affect the people involved.

WORK TOGETHER to find ways we can cope with this future change.

Working together to make a difference

The project is fostering communication and understanding between different stakeholders and researchers through a series of joint site visits and workshops.

Additionally, the team are working closely with local and policy communities to transform the knowledge from the project research into innovative and practical applications on the ground:

• Work commissioned by the Commission for Rural Communities as part of their Inquiry into the Future of England’s uplands
• Work commissioned as part of Government Office for Science Foresight Land Use Futures project and Scottish Government’s Rural Land Use Study
  Work with Yorkshire Water to promote more effective collaboration with land managers around water discolouration
• Production of a toolkit of practical strategies for land managers, helping them to harness future change
• Helping Premier Waste PLC to devise more effective ways to reduce water colour from North Pennine catchments
• White Paper and presentation to Conference of the Parties to UN Desertification Convention
• Contributing to National Ecosystem Assessment
• Research for DEFRA on peat ecosystem services