Socio-economic impacts of ‘green’ land investment in rural Scotland
This project explored the social and economic impacts of new forms of ‘green’ land investment that are occurring across rural Scotland. The Scottish Government has committed to becoming a net-zero society by 2045. This has implications for land value and use, and it has led to a notable recent rise in companies and individuals seeking to buy land in Scotland to benefit from the carbon sequestration potential of the land. These owners range from multi-national corporations seeking to offset (or ‘inset’) the carbon emissions from their business activities (or provide a return to investors), to individuals and companies wishing to undertake regenerative land management, nature conservation or ‘rewilding’.
Project aim
This project aimed to understand more about the lived experiences of the rural communities who live and/or work near to landholdings with some form of ‘green’ land investment. The project also sought to learn more about the experiences of the ‘green’ land investors and landowners, as well as their approach and motivations.
The research questions addressed were:
- What are the different types of “green” land investment activities and the differing motivations of landowners?
- What are the social and economic impacts of “green” land investment?
- How does it affect different groups within communities, e.g. the impact on housing or access to land for housing and land prices, those in local employment, local businesses owners those in communities and businesses reliant on tourism that could be affected by change of land use in the vicinity, those working on the land including tenanted farmers, small landholdings and rented crofts, tenants in tied housing on rural estates, owner/occupier farmers?
- What are the potential benefits and / or negative impacts of these types of “green” land investment activities, for rural communities within lands under new private ownership?
- To what extent do private-sector interests support or conflict with the needs of rural communities and their interests e.g. the responsibilities of rural land ownership, from land rights to agricultural tenancies?
- What are the wider and long-term implications of changes in rural land use and ownership for rural communities, as a result of new forms of “green” land investment?
An additional key task within this project was to create a formal definition for ‘rewilding’ that can be used by the Scottish Government, recognising that not all ‘green’ land investments are explicitly about rewilding.
The project made practical recommendations regarding best practice approaches for ‘green’ land investors/landowners in engaging rural communities in decisions relating to land. This will support the Scottish Government’s goal of a ‘just transition’ to a low carbon economy. The project started in December 2022 and concluded in December 2023.
How was information gathered?
This project involved three key stages:
- An evidence and literature review to develop definitions of the key concepts and a typology of ‘green’ land investments. Stakeholder input to this phase involved engagement with the project’s Research Advisory Group and members of the Stakeholder Advisory Group of the ‘Scotland’s Land Reform Futures’ project.
- An online, deliberative workshop designed to identify a formal definition of ‘rewilding’ for use by the Scottish Government. This workshop convened public sector representatives, academics, representatives of both conservation and community organisations, and ‘rewilding’ landowners. A transdisciplinary report was co-authored with the workshop participants, detailing the deliberative process and final definition of ‘rewilding’, highlighting points of convergence and reasoned disagreement between participants, and future research questions. Update: This report has now been published on the Scottish Government’s website and is available here.
- The exploration of six in-depth case studies of rural communities located on or adjacent to land owned or managed for the purposes of defined ‘green’ land investments. The case study locations were identified through a critical process based on stratified GIS of landownership, land use, and community wellbeing spatial data. In-person, semi-structured interviews (8-10 per case study) were undertaken with case study residents, estate employees (or ex-employees), community leaders, local land managers (including managing agents, farmers, crofters, and gamekeepers), and other key voices identified through stakeholder mapping and purposive sampling. Where possible, interviews were conducted with the landowner, to verify their motivations for purchase and landownership, to understand their land management approach, and their awareness of the impacts of their ownership on both rural communities of place and of practice.
In conjunction, focus groups were held in the case study communities of place, and advertised widely, to encourage wider community views to be gathered. Efforts were made to ensure those who are ‘hard to reach’ were invited to participate, and that measures to mitigate barriers to participation were enacted (noting also that the landowners may also be ‘hard to reach’). The purpose of the focus groups was to develop a timeline of historic, current, and anticipated future impacts to the rural communities of changing land use and landownership as a result of ‘green’ land investments. The focus groups also arrived at options for partnership working, collaboration, and effective engagement between the rural community and local ‘green’ landowners and investors.
Please note that all case study locations and participants have remained anonymous, as far as possible. All efforts have been made to ensure that people and places are not identifiable in the final report. Participants received a full consent form and participant information sheet, prior to participating in this research. We adopted the ‘Chatham House rule’ for the focus groups and encouraged participants not to share details of who participated, or the views shared, outwith the focus group discussion. Data is treated with full confidentiality and stored on restricted-access, password protected secure systems through the James Hutton Institute.
How can I find out about the research findings?
The project final report was published on the Scottish Government’s website on 14th December 2023. You can access the full report here and a stand-alone visual summary is available here.
A report detailing the formal definition of ‘rewilding’ was published on the Scottish Government’s website on 4th July 2023.
Principal investigator
This project was funded by the Scottish Government’s Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division (RESAS).
