Sustainable Estates for the 21st Century

The Sustainable Estates for the 21st Century project was carried out at the Centre for Mountain Studies, Perth College, University of the Highlands and Islands, between 2007 and 2012. The work included four projects funded by the Henry Angest Foundation. The overall aim of the project was to align upland estate management in Scotland with the concept of sustainability.

This was in recognition of the fact that there had been little academic and policy attention paid to how different ownership types and management objectives relate to the principles of sustainability. Past work on estates has focused on individual estates or particular sectors, and little had been done since the Land Reform (Scotland) Act in 2003.

To ensure the on-the-ground relevance of the research, an Advisory Group helped to design the project and met with the researchers once a year. The five group members represented key stakeholder groups (Scottish Land and Estates, Cairngorms National Park Authority, Knoydart Foundation, Scottish Environment LINK and the Scottish Government).