The Geographer: Resiliance (Autumn 2012)

The

Geographer Autumn 2012

The newsletter of the

Bounce-Back-Ability How to cope: communities, crops, clarinets and the circular economy “Life isn’t about waiting for the storm to pass… it’s about learning to dance in the rain.”

Anon

Royal Scottish Geographical Society

In This Edition...

•E llen MacArthur’s Journey Towards a Circular Economy •B ill Ruddiman on Millennia of Agricultural Resilience •D avid Attenborough Receives RSGS Medal •E xpert Views: Resilience – A Contemporary Concept •E xpert Views: Crops & Coffee •O pinions: Vulnerable Communities & Vulnerable People •R eader Offer: Unjustifiable Risk plus other news, comments, books...

RSGS: helping to make the connections between people, places & the planet

The

Geographer

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his edition of The Geographer brings together some important themes connecting people with the planet.

Taking the longer view, Bill Ruddiman’s article reminds us that humans have never lived sustainably. This might reasonably be explained by the fact that hitherto we’ve never really had to. But as the world’s population continues to expand and rates of consumption rise even faster, we appear to have bumped up against, or sailed carelessly past, many of the basic limits within which our lives are easily possible.

The ‘Anthropocene’ is a term coined to describe how we’ve moved into an era where humanity is the dominant force of change shaping the planet, and attention is increasingly focusing on how society can deal with change – good and bad, natural and self-inflicted.

As we have expanded as a species, our challenges have naturally evolved from individual survival to operating within the increasingly interconnected economies and social relations of modern life. As we move forwards, our greatest modern challenge is surely learning for the first time how to be sustainable. Can we do more to learn to ‘dance in the rain’? This new challenge requires new thinking, one example being the work emerging from the Ellen MacArthur Foundation – do circular economies, which downplay consumerism and seek to design away waste, make more sense in this new world than traditional linear economies?

With the economy struggling, our faith in politicians and financial institutions low, and so many of the things we have learnt to take for granted (pensions, job security, cheap energy, climate) now appearing more uncertain, perhaps we need to reappraise how robust aspects of our current system really are and plan accordingly. Resilience (or ‘bounceback-ability’) is a dynamic and growing focus of modern research, much of which has a strong geographical dimension, which considers how natural systems and the built environment can cope with change.

What can we learn from the people who still live close to nature and in some of the world’s most challenging environments where resilience is still part of daily life? Can our economies be made more resilient? And how does this translate into global issues like food and energy security?

Or more local issues like how communities organise to safeguard the most vulnerable? What coping strategies already exist or do we need to develop?

Resilience is a wide-ranging issue; we have tried to reflect some of this breadth, and to help illuminate this growing area of modern research.

Dr John Rowan & Mike Robinson RSGS, Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU tel: 01738 455050 email: enquiries@rsgs.org www.rsgs.org Charity registered in Scotland no SC015599

Fantastic Maid’s House Barrie Brown, Chairman Readers of The Geographer will know of my pride at what the Society has achieved in converting the Fair Maid’s House into a modern visitor and education centre for geography. It has been reassuring to receive plaudits from the primary, secondary and tertiary sectors of education. But what do our visitors think of the Fair Maid’s House?

Because we have been open for some time, I can now repeat some of the comments in our Visitors Book, thus removing any suggestion of bias on my part!

The Fair Maid’s House, like this magazine, is the changed face of the Society, and I encourage those members who have not yet visited to do so – I promise you will not be disappointed.

And I must pay credit to our volunteers – all of us were beginners in this, but we are clearly succeeding in making a visit to ‘FMH’ an enjoyable experience.

And this is being reflected in a steady growth in membership of the Society. Encouragingly, another of our Life Members has just recently taken out Patron Membership “to help the Society” and we remain very grateful to them for that. It is after all only with the help of you, our members, and the continuing growth in support, that the Society can go on building on these excellent foundations and begin to truly thrive.

The Fair Maid’s House remains open until Friday 26th October, after which we will open only for school and other booked group visits throughout the winter.

Please contact the office for further details.

The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the RSGS. Cover image: Nenet reindeer herders in the Yamal Peninsula, Western Siberia, Russia. © Steve Morgan www.stevemorganphoto.co.uk Masthead image: Droving over the Shinigaig Pass. © Linda Cracknell

RSGS: helping to make the connections between people, places & the planet

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Autumn 2012

NEWS People • Places • Planet Sir David Attenborough Receives Scottish Geographical Medal At a private event in June, RSGS President Professor Iain Stewart, VicePresident David Hempleman-Adams, and Chief Executive Mike Robinson presented the RSGS’s highest award, the Scottish Geographical Medal, to Sir David Attenborough. The Medal was awarded in recognition of Sir David’s decades of work in showing people more of the natural world and sharing his enthusiasm for it – there can be few people whose knowledge of the natural environment has not in some way been enhanced by Sir David Attenborough’s work, particularly as a broadcaster and a writer.

Sir David’s programmes have educated and inspired millions of people, young and old, encouraging them to be inquisitive about the visible landscapes which we inhabit, to delve below the surface of those landscapes to appreciate the richness of the Earth’s geology and history, and to value the work of scientists in many disciplinary guises in helping us all appreciate, value and understand better the complex and interconnected world in which we live.

RSGS Chief Executive Mike Robinson said “Whilst Sir David’s work has not been focused on the geography of the places he has visited over the years, it has nevertheless intrinsically underlined the value of geography. He has introduced generations of viewers to the vast variety of life and habitats on their planet.”

David Hempleman-Adams, Sir David Attenborough and Professor Iain Stewart.

The most famous step in history Sandy Crosbie

Lord Arbuthnott

Across the world, regardless of location or time, few people with access to television missed watching the moon landing in 1969. Children were lifted from bed; normal activities were suspended in order to witness a seminal moment in human history. The fact that Neil Armstrong, who has died at the age of 82, had roots in the Borders of Scotland, lent greater meaning to the occasion of his visit to Edinburgh in 1972, when he was honoured by the RSGS after his lecture in the Usher Hall.

The Society was sorry to learn of the death in July of one of its VicePresidents, the 16th Viscount of Arbuthnott, John Campbell Arbuthnott.

To the untutored ear, the first few seconds of his lecture were complete gobbledegook. He began by repeating an exchange between the Lunar Module and Mission Control. The scale, complexity and novelty of the project also required new tone, precise terminology for instant and unmistakeable communication. It was an unforgettable experience for all who heard it.

Neil Armstrong was a modest and unassuming man, a highly skilled aviator, astronaut and engineer who never lost sight of the fact that he was only one in a team of 400,000. His family told reporters, “While we mourn the loss of a very good man, we also celebrate his remarkable life and hope that it serves as an example to young people around the world to work hard to make their dreams come true, to be willing to explore and push the limits, and to selflessly serve a cause greater than themselves.

For those who may ask what they can do to honour Neil, we have a simple request… the next time you walk outside on a clear night and see the moon smiling down at you, think of Neil Armstrong and give him a wink.”

For geography, he changed, forever, the perception of the world. The moon landing showed the Earth in its true perspective: a small sphere orbiting a minor star in a vast and limitless cosmos.

Neil Armstrong decided what to say on setting foot on the moon: “That’s one small step for a man, one giant leap for mankind.” He could have no finer an apposite epitaph. © Dan Gallagher, NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center

Burn-Murdoch Globe: an update A specialist globe restorer, Sylvia Sumira, is visiting RSGS HQ at the end of October to assess the Burn-Murdoch Globe and to advise on its restoration and repair. We are hopeful that it can be improved significantly, although the full cost and options will rest on the advice we receive.

Lord Arbuthnott served during World War II with the Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve, the Fleet Air Arm, seeing action in the Far East and Pacific; he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross in 1945.

He had a great interest in the countryside and in conservation, and he was committed to the commerce and business of the northeast. He worked as a chartered surveyor, a land agent, and a Justice of the Peace, served as Lord Lieutenant of Kincardineshire from 1977 to 1999, and was an RSGS Vice-President from 1983 until his death. He was appointed CBE in 1985 and a Knight of the Thistle in 1996. He is survived by his son Keith and daughter Susanna.

NEWS People • Places • Planet The Gripes of Wrath The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been in negotiations with the Scottish Lighthouse Board to buy the area immediately around Cape Wrath, including the lighthouse and associated buildings. This is the only part of the Cape Wrath peninsula that the MoD doesn’t already own (although there is a public road to and from the Durness ferry).

Let’s Celebrate 365 In September, photojournalist Jeremy Hunter brought the Let’s Celebrate 365 exhibition to a close with a fascinating public talk, in which he took the audience ‘behind the pictures’ from the exhibition, revealing their enthralling but sometimes disturbing stories.

Jeremy was fresh from taking part in the opening ceremony of the Paralympic Games, where he sang, as part of the huge 3,000 strong cast of volunteer performers, to a crowd of over 62,000 and an international audience of billions. He wanted to see what it was like to be part of the mass celebrations that he usually views through a lens.

Jeremy has spent 35 years tracking down celebrations, festivals, ceremonies and rituals, to add to his stunning collection of images, and capturing some ceremonies as they are on their way to extinction, from celebrations in the Omo Valley in Kenya, where local tribes whose cultures have remained unchanged for centuries are being forced from their land and into modernity, to the mass celebrations at the Arirang Mass Games in North Korea, coming to its end after the death of Kim Jong-Il, and acting as a glorious cover for the country’s dark underbelly.

Thank you to those who attended Jeremy’s talk or came to see the exhibition. Let’s Celebrate 365 has been a great boost to the Fair Maid’s House and to the committed volunteer force who man the visitor centre daily, and hundreds of people have followed the map around the city centre, discovering both festivals and rituals, and cafés, shops and visitor attractions.

The local community is concerned that if the MoD buys this bit of land, it might be tempted to close down the whole peninsula for long periods of time, with consequent job losses (for example, in the ferry and minibus services). The Durness Development Group has registered an interest in buying the property under the Land Reform (Scotland) Act; the MoD says it will await the outcome of that before going ahead with any purchase.

Cameron McNeish FRSGS, mountaineer and popular writer, has expressed his concern about the possible MOD move. “I can only begin to imagine the furore that would ensue if the MoD tried to buy Lands End or even John O’Groats, but Cape Wrath is equally iconic, the most north-western corner of the British mainland. I would suggest that it is imperative that such a spot remains accessible to the public and I certainly intend to support the local community in their quest for a community buy-out.”

The Seligman Crystal Professor David Sugden, Emeritus Professor of the University of Edinburgh, has been awarded the 2012 Seligman Crystal by the International Glaciological Society (IGS). The Seligman Crystal is the most prestigious international honour bestowed by the IGS, awarded to “one who has made an outstanding scientific contribution to glaciology so that the subject is now enriched.”

The Awards Committee recognised David Sugden as one of the key glacial geomorphologists of the last 50 years, saying in its statement “His career is remarkable not only in its longevity but also in its breadth and quality of output, his ability to develop new interests at the forefront of important glaciological research and his inspirational leadership. While his research interests span the disciplines of glacial geology and glaciology, both poles and many previously glaciated regions, perhaps his most significant achievements have been made in Antarctica.”

The Committee concluded, “We believe the award of a Seligman Crystal is truly merited and would be hugely welcomed by the glaciological community.”

Hundreds of millions of people were without electricity in India recently, resulting in massive traffic jams as road signals broke down, and bringing factories and businesses to a stand-still, as India’s power grid experienced a colossal collapse twice within a week.

But it is not just India that is struggling with a massive gap between power demand and supply. According to the Asian Development Bank, crippling power cuts and shortage of energy supply are hurting growth in other South Asian nations such as Pakistan, Bangladesh and Nepal, and the situation is likely to get worse as the demand for energy increases across Asia.

South Asia is rich in energy resources, ranging from renewables such as hydro-electricity and solar power to fossil fuels such as coal and gas, and many experts are recognising that the solution might lie in cross-border co-operation and a shared distribution network.

However, the idea of combining resources has not gained much traction. India’s Minister of State for Power, K C Venugopal, admitted during a regional power conference last year that “the issue of cross-border trading was a complex one involving market, technology and, most importantly, geopolitical issues”.

Despite these issues, some key developments have started to take place. Bhutan, for instance, is supplying an increasing amount of hydro-power to India, and has begun work on new hydro-power projects totalling more than 11,000MW, mostly for the Indian market.

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Power-Sharing in South-East Asia

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NEWS People • Places • Planet Professor Charles Withers, Professor of Historical Geography and recently-appointed Ogilvie Chair of Geography at the University of Edinburgh, has been awarded the 2012 Founder’s Medal by the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG). This is one of the Society’s two Royal Medals, dating back to 1831, approved each year by Her Majesty the Queen, and amongst the highest honours in the world for the development and promotion of geography.

Professor Withers, one of the world’s leading historical geographers, received the Founder’s Medal in recognition of his outstanding contribution to the encouragement and development of historical and cultural geography.

Dr Rita Gardner CBE, Director of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG), said, “Our medal and award recipients illustrate the breadth of geography and its importance in understanding our world’s changing societies, environments and economies.”

Kenya Looks to Lewis RSGS member Dr Edward Graham, a lecturer in climate at the University of the Highlands and Islands based in Stornoway, is helping African astronomers to find the best spot for a new telescope. The project hopes to make Kenya the first country in sub-Saharan Africa to host an astronomical observatory capable of contributing to international research.

Dr Graham said “Astronomical observation depends heavily on the weather and climate. Most obviously, clear skies are vital for successful star-gazing, but equally important are the total water vapour content of the whole atmosphere, as well as the amount of turbulence.”

Mosquito Surveillance The European Centre for Disease Prevention & Control (ECDC) in Stockholm has released guidelines to help European countries to develop their mosquito surveillance. There was little need for such measures after malaria was largely eradicated from the continent in the mid-20th century, but the increasing globalization of trade, particularly in tyres and plants, has given various invasive species more opportunities to move into Europe.

VBORNET is a Europe-wide ECDC-funded network of c400 medical entomologists, microbiologists and public-health experts. VBORNET’s geographical information system will allow scientists to combine surveillance data with environmental factors, to better track the main invasive mosquito species, to assess how environmental conditions can affect their ability to transmit pathogens, and to develop control strategies.

A key target is the Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus), which can transmit at least 22 different viruses. This south-east Asian native was reported in Albania in 1979, in Italy in 1990, and has now expanded along the Mediterranean and Black Sea coasts. At least five other invasive mosquitoes capable of spreading diseases are also gaining ground.

In 2007, Italy saw several hundred cases of chikungunya, which causes nausea, vomiting and debilitating joint pain. Dengue fever hit a handful of people in France and Croatia in 2010, and there has been a steady rise in cases of West Nile virus.

Future climate change could accelerate the spread of these species: models suggest that invasive mosquitoes could find suitable habitats in northern Europe by 2030.

Dr Graham was commissioned to make a detailed study of atmospheric conditions using meteorological data gathered by Europe and the US. His survey of Kenya’s Highlands is the first of its kind. The next phase of the project will involve the installation of weather stations to better study cloud cover, wind conditions, humidity and temperature changes at each of the short-listed locations.

The project team hopes the building of the telescope will bring an economic boost and help to develop technological skills in Kenya.

Scotland: Mapping the Nation First published in hardcover in September 2011 (and featured in the autumn 2011 edition of The Geographer), this beautiful study of Scottish maps, map makers and map history is now available in paperback. The RSGS is delighted to have benefited from a share in the royalties generated from sales to date, generously gifted by one of the authors, with an initial payment of nearly £3,000.

Data from June 2012 show that the Asian tiger mosquito has spread rapidly across southern Europe over the past decade. © ECDC/VBORNET

Dr David Graham-Service FRSGS We were sorry to learn of the death of Dr David Graham-Service, a Fellow and long-standing member of RSGS. An active traveller and hill-walker, with a great love of dogs, he had a distinguished career as a medical osteopath in Glasgow for over 50 years.

He is survived by his wife Maureen, two children, two grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren.

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The RGS (with IBG) Founder’s Medal

NEWS People • Places • Planet Edinburgh Earth Observatory

Impact of Food Prices

Legacy Giving Legacies are a vital form of support for many charities such as the RSGS. Yet although c74% of people in the UK support charities, only c7% leave a charitable bequest.

We can all make a positive difference, large or small, in the world we leave behind. Please consider helping the RSGS into the future by writing a bequest into your Will.

King Albert Mountain Award Professor Martin Price, Director of the Centre for Mountain Studies, Perth College UHI, has been awarded a gold medal by the King Albert I Memorial Foundation. The Foundation was established in 1993 in memory of King Albert I of Belgium, a keen mountaineer.

Its aim is to honour persons and institutions that have made exceptional contributions to the mountain world.

The citation for the award commends Martin’s work with international organisations, and his role as the organiser of international mountain conferences over the last two decades. It also praises his wide knowledge and editorial competence, describing this as a vital role for the mountains of the world. It states, “His global interactions and contributions have been a major force in mountain research and development”.

Martin holds the UNESCO Chair in Sustainable Mountain Development, and has written and edited many books contributing to the knowledge and sustainable development of mountain areas, on topics including forests, tourism, global change and interdisciplinary research.

This brings back memories of 2007-08, when the world saw a major food crisis. A steep rise in food prices meant that some of the world’s poorest people, who spend most of their income on food, could not afford basic staples, and it led to mass protests in some African and Asian countries. But the crisis was also a reminder of how, with longterm investment, smallholder farmers can benefit from higher food prices, and become part of the solutions.

Going… going...

Scientists reported a freak event in Greenland this summer, when nearly every part of the massive ice sheet that blankets the island suddenly started melting. Even Greenland’s coldest place showed melting; records show that occurs about once every 150 years and last happened in 1889.

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The Edinburgh Earth Observatory at the University of Edinburgh continues its successful professional seminar series in conjunction with the Association for Geographic Information in Scotland (AGI-S), attracting its speakers from top experts within industry and academia.

The programme for 2012-13 begins in October; see www.eeo. ed.ac.uk/seminars for details.

According to a joint statement by the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the International Fund for Agriculture Development, and the World Food Programme, global food price rises are in danger of affecting millions of people again. A drought in the US, production difficulties in Russia, untimely rains in Brazil, and delayed monsoons in India, among other factors, have driven food price rises in recent months. The FAO says cereal prices surged 17%, while sugar prices leapt 12% to new highs in July compared with the previous month.

The extent of surface melt over Greenland’s ice sheet on 8th July 2012 and 12th July 2012. © NASA

NASA says three satellites saw “unprecedented melting” over four days (8th-12th July). Most of the thick ice remained. What was unusual was that the melting occurred over a widespread area, going from 40% of the ice sheet to 97%. Previously, the most extensive melt seen by satellites in the past 30 years was about 55%. Scientists cannot say yet if the melting is from global warming or natural.

Meanwhile, the US National Snow & Ice Data Center (NSIDC) in Boulder, Colorado, announced a record decline in Arctic sea ice extent, showing a remaining area of around 3.52 million km2. They report that this massive melt has occurred in relatively normal weather conditions, with only one strong summer storm to hasten the break-up of the pack ice.

Arctic sea ice coverage on 26th August 2012, a record low. The blue line shows the previous record low, on 18th September 2007; the solid red line shows the median 18th September measurement for 1979 to 2000. © National Snow & Ice Data Center

Farther afield, this year’s record sea ice melt might foreshadow a harsh winter in parts of Europe and North America. Recent research, although preliminary, suggests a connection between late-summer Arctic sea ice extent and the location of areas of high and low atmospheric pressure over the northern Atlantic. The highs and lows can remain relatively fixed for weeks, shaping storm tracks and seasonal weather patterns such as extended cold surges.

Buy an inspiring gift that lasts all year.

RSGS Gift Membership makes an excellent Christmas present for friends or family.

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NEWS People • Places • Planet Weather costs £1bn This summer’s wet weather cost rural Britain at least £1bn, according to an investigation

by BBC One’s Countryfile. Data from farmers, tourist businesses, insurers and events organisers showed that the wettest summer for 100 years hit countryside businesses hard.

Factors included reduced visitor numbers at countryside attractions such as stately homes and camp sites, and the cancellation due to bad weather of some country events, from flagship gatherings like the Game Fair and various Highland and Agricultural Shows, to smaller county shows and music festivals.

The biggest loss to farmers was in poor yields, as crops rotted and damp-loving diseases spread. Even without the extra feed cost for livestock farmers, which is hard to calculate, the loss to agriculture approached £600m. The honey business was nearly cut in half.

Whether it is rambling or rearing animals, the USP of rural Britain is the outdoor life, and this summer it has been hard to make that life pay. The bill may yet spread to shoppers as poor harvests push up food prices.

Better news on child mortality The number of children dying before the age of five has fallen significantly over the past 20 years, UNICEF has reported. Some 6.9 million children died before the age of five in 2011, compared to 12 million in 1990, a reduction of 14,000 deaths each day. UNICEF attributed some of the reduction to poorer countries getting richer, and to well-targeted aid, but the sharpest drops in child mortality levels were in countries that had received a lot of external assistance.

Globally, the main causes of under-five deaths are pneumonia (18%), pre-term birth complications (14%), diarrhoea (11%), birth-related complications (9%), and malaria (7%). The UN particularly wants to increase efforts in the 25 countries that account for 80% of these deaths. Last year, half of under-five deaths occurred in just India, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Pakistan and China.

While every region of the world has made progress, high rates of child mortality persist, particularly in South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.

Every day, 19,000 children still die from largely preventable causes. The report makes it clear that, despite positive progress, the child mortality Millennium Development Goal for 2015 is likely to fall well short. Geeta Rao Gupta, Deputy Executive Director of Unicef, said, “The story of child mortality is one of significant progress and unfinished business as well.”

Great Polish Map of Scotland The Great Polish Map of Scotland, in the grounds of Barony Castle Hotel, Eddleston, near Peebles, has been awarded B-listed status.

Built by Polish cartographers in the 1970s, in recognition of Scottish hospitality to Polish soldiers during WWII, the giant three-dimensional map is a topographically-accurate representation of Scotland, and was once plumbed to allow rivers to flow into a blue-dyed sea.

Historic Scotland sought expert opinion from the University of Edinburgh’s Bruce Gittings, who commented on the map’s technical difficulty and its cultural importance to Scottish-Polish relations. Bruce has a personal interest: his uncle, a Polish soldier, came to Scotland and met his aunt. The new status, combined with a debate in the Scottish Parliament in September, will hopefully see this unique structure repaired and preserved. See www.mapascotland.makers.org.uk for more information.

Talks programme underway By the time this issue of The Geographer reaches you, the first of the talks will be underway, with Kapka Kassabova dancing her way around the world with her history of Argentine tango, and Jim McNeill treating audiences to his tales of over 28 years of travel and team-building in the Arctic.

This year’s talks programme is chock-full of speakers keen to tell their stories of adventure, exploration and discovery around the world. John Beatty will share his stunning wildlife photography in his Wild Vision talk, while award-winning documentary maker Matt Dickinson gives us Wild Images of another kind, sharing an insight into the human highs and lows that have formed the highlights of his work. Two tales of paddling journeys will also be shared, with Jasper Winn’s travels around Ireland in a canoe, and Jock Wishart’s Arctic rowing adventure.

We’d like to say a big thank-you to the sponsors who are helping to support the costs of the talks programme.

In particular, we’re delighted that ScottishPower are generously sponsoring 14 of the talks through the season from September to March. We are also grateful for the sponsorship support received from BEAR Scotland, Hillhouse Quarry Group, Lloyds Banking Group, Magnox, Routledge, Saffery Champness, and SAGT.

Tim Emmett

Timothy Allen

You can view the talks programme online at www.rsgs.org/ events/TalksProgramme.pdf – please feel free to email this to friends, colleagues and people you think might be interested in coming along. RSGS members can still attend any of the Inspiring People talks for free, so please make sure your membership is up to date. And do consider giving RSGS membership as a gift to a friend or family member.

John Beatty

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Expert Views: Resilience

I visited Leptis Magna the other day. I didn’t really know how many Roman sites there are in Libya! Apparently it is the largest Roman site outside of Italy. Anyway we had it to ourselves basically.....the potential for tourism in this country is massive.

Resilience as a Contemporary Geographical Research Agenda Dr John Rowan, Director of the Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience, University of Dundee

“…a truly ‘wicked problem’, because there are so many interdependencies which, if tackled individually, may only serve to reveal or create other new problems.”

Human impacts are not only intensifying but also spreading into the remotest parts of the planet, focusing attention on how we can promote more sustainable living and avoid what many consider an impending environmental crisis.

Whilst much research is focused on the scale, severity and implications of this change, there is an increasing focus on understanding our ability to cope and to test and develop societal resilience.

Resilience is one of the modern generation of buzz words, like ecosystem services or localism, which are widely used in academic and policy circles, but not always used or understood in the same way. The Concise Oxford English Dictionary defines ‘resilient’ as “adj 1 (of a substance) recoiling, springing back; resuming original shape after bending, stretching, compression etc; 2 (of a person) readily recovering from shock, depression etc”. Taken together, these define resilience as a measure of how readily ecosystems (and the people within them) can resist damage and maintain their prior functions – if, and how well, they can bounce back.

Disturbances (or perturbations) can be natural events, such as floods, droughts or wildfires, or can arise from human activities such as pollution, deforestation or the introduction of invasive non-native species, and the rates of change can obviously be gradual or abrupt.

In nature, those attributes contributing to greater resilience include biodiversity, the health and diversity of wildlife and ecosystems, whilst for humans it is the quality of social capital that plays a crucial role in the ability of community members to adapt and reduce the risk to exposure, or to recover quickly, efficiently and effectively when problems arise. Geography has a long and distinguished tradition of studying human agency and environmental impact. However, much of the early work on resilience emerged from the ecology literature by pioneers such as C S (Buzz) Holling, who used systems theory and modelling approaches to characterise the interplay of people and planet (sometimes termed the ‘socio-

ecological system’), highlighting the existence of feed-back mechanisms, non-linear responses and recognition of ‘tipping points’ beyond which impacts cause irreversible environmental consequences, for example a regime shift towards a simpler and more impoverished state.

Today’s global challenge is to provide fairer and healthier futures for our rapidly growing population, whilst protecting the Earth’s natural capital – the life-supporting ecosystems that provide water, food, fibres, and numerous other goods and services including a habitable climate. The interplay of social and environmental factors requires interdisciplinary approaches to provide a deeper understanding and develop sustainable solutions. That geography has a key role in this agenda is manifest in the “helping to make the connections between people, places & the planet” strap line of the Royal Scottish Geographical Society.

Illustrating this in practice, geographers are playing a leading role in the Centre for Environmental Change and Human Resilience (CECHR, www.dundee.ac.uk/cechr), created by the University of Dundee and the James Hutton Institute.

With its interdisciplinary ethos, CECHR seeks to draw together natural and social scientists, and to engage more effectively with policy makers and the wider public. Its four research ‘pillars’ aim to secure more resilient water, food, energy and health futures, and promote cross-cutting issues like climate change and social justice (see diagram).

Created in 2009 with three PhD students, CECHR now has an active academic community of over 100, and PhD students are approaching 20. These students, drawn from five continents, are working on an incredible array of topics, such as how drought risk in Malawi informs farming practices; how knowledge of seed coatings might lead to a new generation of geo-textiles; how soil erosion links to biodiversity in agro-ecosystems; how climate change might impact on respiratory disease; and how community-based renewable energy projects can reduce fuel poverty in Scotland. More than half these projects have geographers, human and physical, on the supervisory teams, highlighting the relevance of the discipline within the resilience agenda, a point further underlined by the emergence of similar interdisciplinary initiatives elsewhere within leading UK universities.

Reconciling rising patterns of consumption, whilst living within environmental limits, is a truly ‘wicked problem’, because there are so many interdependencies which, if tackled individually, may only serve to reveal or create other new problems. The need for systems-based approaches, which are holistic and consider environment-society linkages, plays to the traditional strengths of geography, which for many years have not necessarily been at the cutting edge of the discipline.

Resilience is one of the vital modern topics which epitomizes the way geography helps bring disciplines together and which underlines its relevance in modern applied research.

CECHR’s thematic research pillars targeting increased resilience.

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Resilience Thinking: A concept of or for our time?

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Autumn 2012

Dr Ioan Fazey, Senior Lecturer in Sustainable Development, University of St Andrews

The term ‘resilience’ is increasingly being used in a wide range of circles, including ecology, economics, emergency and disaster management, community development, education, psychology, and engineering. It often refers to the capacity of a ‘system’ of some kind (eg, community, forest, organisation, person) to absorb and adapt to some form of change (hurricanes, economic shocks, trauma) in a way that enables the system to retain the same functions and outputs (jobs, well-being, provision of food from a forest, etc).

Resilience thinking comes from a systems thinking world view, which recognises that systems are dynamically complex, where changing one aspect in a system can have major and unpredictable impacts on other aspects, such as the collapse of global economies and the credit crunch.

uncertain, and whether they justify what they know through some form of evidence and analysis or by what ‘feels right’.

These beliefs have profound impacts on the rest of thinking and behaviour. For example, most conflicts are due to some form of contestation over how knowledge is justified (eg, what counts as evidence). Those who see the world as complex and unpredictable are also more likely to dig deeper into a problem to look for counter-intuitive findings, and recognise there may be different perspectives on the problem and its solutions, than those who view the world as simple and certain. Students with more pluralistic thinking therefore tend to do better in academic tests than those with more black and white kinds of thinking.

Teaching resilience thinking certainly has potential to influence these higher order epistemic beliefs. However, the effect of teaching resilience

Use of the term ‘resilience’ has been increasing. Google Trends shows a steady increase in the number of searches using the term ‘resilience’ relative to the total number of searches over time, while almost seven times as many research papers used the term in 2011 as in 2000.

This raises an interesting question: Is increasing use of ‘resilience’ simply a reflection of a broader A highland village near Bario, Borneo. change towards more systemic thinking in society, thinking will also depend on or can teaching resilience how it is taught (eg, whether or systems thinking actually students are required to actively facilitate a change in the way think about their thinking) and problems are perceived and on where a student is starting addressed? That is, is resilience a from (if a student has already concept of our time, or a concept developed more pluralistic or that can be used for our time? systemic thinking then they are less likely to be affected). This To answer this question, it is then raises another important useful to consider studies of question: Is resilience thinking personal epistemological beliefs just a stepping stone to other, (PEBs). These are the beliefs possibly more sophisticated, held by people about what ways of thinking that also have they consider knowledge to be profound impacts on how we and how they come to know relate to others and the world we something, such as the extent live in? to which they see the world as simple or complex, certain or

Research on thinking, such as

that by Susanne Cook-Greuter, suggests that most people in western societies view the world as traditional, conventional stages (like the more black and white thinking described above), but that there are also many stages of development that go beyond this. ‘Systems thinking’, however, occurs at the beginning of the post-conventional stage.

This helps explain why resilience thinking is so popular in our current time: it provides a safe bridge for people to make this significant leap from one way of thinking to another, and to enable them to start seeing the world differently. But resilience or systems thinking is only one step on a road to other cognitive developments. Think, for example, of the seriously wise people like the Dalai Lama who have spent many years (and lives?) in deep exploration of the mind and body. Their kind of thinking is rare, and resilience or systems thinking is only part of a process towards more sophisticated ways of viewing the world and how a person relates to it.

So back to the question: Is resilience thinking a product of our changing times, or can it be used for our time? Certainly resilience thinking can help some people develop new ways of thinking, and is therefore an important conceptual tool to instigate a new approach to understanding and approaching the world’s problems. It is also particularly important in current western contexts where shifts to more systemic ways of thinking are happening.

However, resilience thinking is only one of many perspectives. In addition to facilitating cognitive developments using lenses such as resilience thinking, it is therefore important to continue to strive towards other more sophisticated and pluralistic ways of understanding and addressing real world challenges.

“…can teaching resilience or systems thinking actually facilitate a change in the way problems are perceived and addressed?”

Further Reading

Fazey I: Resilience and Higher Order Thinking (Ecology and Society, 2010)

Expert Views: Agricultural Resilience

Millennia of Agricultural Resilience Professor William F Ruddiman, Department of Environmental Sciences, University of Virginia

“…resource limitation is hardly a new issue.”

Human history is often analyzed in terms of two intervals: (1) the 200 years of the modern industrial era; and (2) the many millennia of pre-industrial and pre-historic time. One persistent concern in the modern era is how resilient humankind will be in responding to the challenges posed by depletion of critical resources. But resource limitation is hardly a new issue. For millennia before mechanized agriculture, our ancestors were forced to respond to shortages in food, that most basic resource.

Fortunately, they did so, and in a way that argues for the resilience of human nature.

Decades ago, economist Ester Boserup summarized the longterm trends in food production shown in this table:

Changes Through Time

(from Long Fallow to Short Fallow to Annual and Double Cropping)

–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––

Earlier Later Population density low high Productivity per acre low high Area farmed per capita high low

Millennia ago, the first farmers found a virtual Garden of Eden, with fertile land abundantly available. They cleared and burned forests to create croplands and pasture, and rotated frequently to new plots as soil fertility dropped in older ones.

Per-capita clearance by these early farmers was very large (five hectares or more).

But over time, the farming success that produced food also caused population growth, with

neighbours crowding in, individual land holdings shrinking, and sufficient food becoming harder to obtain. Farmers responded by devising new methods: spreading manure, rotating legume crops for livestock fodder and soil replenishment, replacing wooden ploughs with metal, irrigating dry areas and draining wet ones.

Slowly, over millennia, these improvements shortened the time the land was left lying fallow, eventually enabling farmers to plant one or more crops on the same plots every year. With these innovations, farmers were able to grow more food on less land, and famine was generally held at bay. But, as populations inevitably increased, land again became scarce, and another phase cycle began.

In Boserup’s view, we got into trouble through the population growth produced by agriculture, but then innovated our way out of the worst difficulties. The famines that did occur because of drought and civil strife were regional in scale and relatively brief. Underlying these short-term episodes was the more basic long-term dynamic of Boserupian cycles of population growth and innovation.

Boserup’s view of agriculture as a story of human resilience runs contrary to the gloomier view of Thomas Malthus, who saw repeated cycles of population growth, increasing food scarcity, and famine-induced population collapse. At least at this point in human history, Boserup’s vision has proven more accurate than that of Malthus.

Boserup’s view also runs contrary to a romantic vision voiced by some early philosophers (such as JeanJacques Rousseau) and

still extant today among some environmentalists. Early people have been viewed as ‘living lightly on the land’, leaving small footprints on the natural landscape. With so many fewer people millennia ago, the total impact on the land was obviously far smaller than in recent times, but the personal land-use footprint per person was actually much higher.

Ester Boserup’s view is now re-emerging among scientists attempting to reconstruct past land use. For over a decade, land-use modellers have used the simplifying assumption that percapita land use has been about the same for millennia. Because global population has only exploded in the last few centuries as a result of improved sanitation, land-use reconstructions from these models simulate minimal clearance prior to recent centuries, with the arable continents remaining nearly pristine until the start of the industrial era.

But scientists working in archaeology and related field sciences have long been aware of Boserup’s work, and have found field evidence supporting her idea of long-term decreases in per-capita land use. Historical evidence from China and Europe shows a four-fold decrease in per-capita land use in the 2,000 years preceding agricultural mechanization. Land-use modellers who have incorporated this historical information now simulate widespread deforestation prior to the industrial era. Of the total global deforestation to date, more than 75% occurred before 1850, and the remaining 25% or less during the industrial era.

This extensive early clearance produced large CO2 emissions, and, along with methane-emitting agricultural activities, may have warmed pre-industrial climate by an amount comparable to or larger than the much betterknown greenhouse warming of the current era.

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Resilience for Colombian Coffee Farmers Dr Nick Hine, School of Computing, University of Dundee

The moment you land in Bogotá you know you are in a different world. From the clapping and cheering as the pilot successfully lands the plane in a spectacular thunderstorm at night, to the football match on the taxi radio. Travel further afield and you become overwhelmed with the changing scenery, flora, fauna, agriculture and lifestyle. This is, after all, the country with the greatest biodiversity density in the world.

And the Colombians are fiercely proud of their land and the diversity that it supports.

Explore this with them and the conversation quickly turns to coffee. Not only the pride with which they talk about the brand, the world-renowned label that is ‘Colombian’, but also the place, the part of the land known as ‘the Coffee Zone’, and the life that that place sustains.

But that life is under threat. The civil conflicts that have produced such turmoil in Colombia for more than 45 years have often taken place in the Coffee Zone, causing misery to communities and devastation to the landscape and agriculture in the region.

At the same time, Colombia fell from second to fourth behind Brazil, Vietnam and Indonesia in the world rankings of coffee producers by volume. This situation became more serious in 2008 when there was a sharp fall in production, the cause of which is unknown but is speculated to be due to the rise in temperature in the Coffee Zone as a localised artefact of the el Niña phenomenon and the wider effects of global warming.

These uncertainties have led to farmers leaving the coffee farms, in some cases being seduced into the narcotics trade, or in other cases moving to cities such as Medellín, Cali, and eventually Bogotá, where it is estimated that 3.8% of the population

of over eight million live as unregistered ‘displaced people’, without any eligibility for social and health services, and with little financial resources.

As peace and stability have begun to return to Colombia, there is a commitment to build new opportunities in the Coffee Zone, including tourism and recreation as well as agriculture. To this end, the Colombian Government successfully applied to UNESCO to have a part of the Coffee Zone declared a World Heritage Site. The name is significant: The Coffee Culture Landscape. The emphasis is on the promotion of the quality (rather than quantity) of the coffee produced on small-scale farms that respect the artisanal way of life whilst seeking to improve the impact of coffee production on the local environment.

The emphasis on quality presents the farmers with a challenge.

Buyers will pay for quality, if it can be predicted and sustained, exactly what the farmers also need for their quality of life.

Some farming practices can be changed season by season, others take years to filter through as bushes mature and produce harvestable crops. This requires a certain faith on the part of the farmer to risk changing practices passed down through the generations in the expectation that these will

smooth the unpredictable cycles of quality.

To this end, researchers at the Universities in Dundee, Quindío and Pereira have been piloting an approach to understanding the factors affecting coffee quality, using business intelligence data analytics tools. These are explored at the levels of individual farms, local areas, departments and the whole region. The insights gained from this analysis, and the associated recommended changes to farming practices, are being fed back to the farmers directly, to the policy makers, and into the training programmes in the local colleges and universities.

Through this combination of long-term and considered policy initiatives and direct practical adaptation of farming practices, it is expected that not only will the quality of the coffee be consistently improved, but this improvement will be accompanied by a more sensitive interface between the farms and the local environment, and lead to a more predictable and sustainable coffee industry in Colombia.

“Some farming practices can be changed season by season, others take years to filter through as bushes mature and produce harvestable crops.”

Opinion: Resilience

The Journey Dame Ellen MacArthur

“We too have finite resources, yet our economy functions primarily by using those up.”

Dame Ellen MacArthur has been a highly successful transatlantic and round-the-world sailor. In 2004, she sailed over 26,000 miles in less than 72 days to become the fastest person to circumnavigate the globe single-handed.

In September 2010, she launched the Ellen MacArthur Foundation with the goal of “accelerating the transition to a regenerative, circular economy”.

When you sail around the world, you take with you the minimum.

If the boat isn’t light, you will never break the record, but if you take too little food or fuel, your nearest shop is 2,500 miles away in the southern ocean. So out there you develop an overwhelming notion of the definition of the word ‘finite’.

Never, ever had I related this to my life on land, but suddenly, as I returned from my last journey round the world, I began to realise that our life on land was no different. We too have finite resources, yet our economy functions primarily by using those up.

So I began to learn, speaking to everyone – CEOs, scientists, government officials, farmers and academics – to find out how we use our resources globally.

Which led to discussions around the problems associated with our current linear economy – the ‘take-makedispose’ industrial economy which has driven progress since the Industrial Revolution.

To me, this did not feel right.

If our resources were finite, yet we had to use them up to fuel our economy, what could our long-term goal possibly be? If www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org we used less, that would simply buy us time… Surely, I felt, there must be a different goal, working towards an economic model which could run in the long term.

But during this journey I met a few individuals who saw the economy in a different light – Stef Kranendijk, the CEO of Desso Carpets, Michael Braungart, a German materials chemist, and Ken Webster, an educationalist (now our Head of Innovation here at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation) who led the field when it came to the idea of using

things without using them up, of designing products which were made to be made again, and of clear materials pathways and designing out waste, thus creating significant economic value. This, in a snapshot, is the circular economy.

To understand what the circular economy is, it’s important to understand first the limits of the linear economy. The linear economy depends on the extraction of raw materials which are then processed into products, before being sold on to customers. The customers eventually send their products to landfill and the whole process

begins again. The problem with the model starts when these raw material stocks, which are finite of course, begin to decline.

It’s not to say that these resources will totally run out, but they are getting more and more expensive. We’ve recently witnessed a century of price declines in basic commodities erased in a decade, and analysts are not predicting that those prices will fall, based on the fact that we have three billion new middle-class consumers coming online by 2050. The increase, and perhaps more importantly the volatility, in prices that we are currently faced with is indeed a challenge.

To put this in perspective, over the past 12 months the average EU automotive manufacturer has seen a raw material price increase (excluding energy) of €500 million.

Copper rose in price by 30% in

2010, whilst during the same period tin saw its value increase by 55%. Figures concerning depletion rates and availability of metals reveal stocks which in some cases have virtually reached their limit: according to figures published by New Scientist in 2008, four years ago we only had 42 years left of lead if consumption levels were maintained, but only eight years if the world were to consume at half the USA’s rate.

Combined with infrastructure and ecosystems fatigue, this state of affairs calls for a re-think; yet the traditional messages based around ‘using less’ are unable to alter the decline.

Ultimately, working towards a reduction of resources and fossil energy use – however radical – will not modify the finite nature of their stocks but can only delay the inevitable.

A change of operating system seems necessary, and the current precarious equilibrium is a clear indication that conditions are in place for a transition.

Some business leaders are fully aware of this challenge, which poses a direct threat to the survival of the companies they run, and see advantages in being the ‘first-movers’ to benefit from this transition. Our report, Towards the Circular Economy, which we wrote in conjunction with McKinsey management consultants, makes it clear that there is significant economic benefit in doing so, to the tune of up to US$380 billion a year in the EU alone (based on a subset of 48.7% of manufacturing, and based on only cycling 25% of materials in those products once).

It coincides with a subtle yet noticeable shift in values, as key players in the corporate world

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open new paths by progressively moving away from corporate social responsibility and casting a new eye on the concept of growth. This is why more and more companies, local authorities and regional governments are embracing the circular economy framework, dramatically changing the way they see products, services and infrastructure. It is first and foremost a matter of perspective, not simply one of finding a new global operating system, but seeing the one we have rather differently.

Case Studies Many industries are in their infancy when it comes to a circular approach, but the gains are clear to see. The exciting thing about innovation for a closed loop system is that there is a world of opportunity out there for designers. As a design and technology pupil recently remarked, “I never knew what I could design for my projects, but now I’ve heard about the circular economy I realise that everything has to be redesigned”.

Van Houtum Van Houtum’s Satino Black toilet paper is made exclusively from 100% recycled paper, using energy which is 100% renewable. The use of ‘green energy’ – generated by wind, water and sun, or ‘green gas’ (produced via biological processes and obtained from water treatment and fermentation installations) supplied to Satino’s own co-generation plant – reduces CO2 emissions and saves fossil fuel. The amount of water and energy used in the production of Satino Black is one of the lowest in the world for this sector.

The circular economy is a generic term for an industrial economy that is, by design or intention, regenerative and in which materials flows are separated into two types: biological nutrients, designed to re-enter the biosphere safely, and technical nutrients, which are designed to circulate at high quality without entering the biosphere. It aims to rely on renewable energy, made possible by the fact that re-manufacturing potential reduces the need for such high level of energy.

We are fortunate to have Walter Stahel, author of Limits to Certainty, as one of our Independent Experts Advisory Panel at the Foundation. Walter predicted a shift from products to services, which would be an inevitable outcome in a circular economy, and we are already seeing firms innovating with their business models in order to reclaim their raw materials for the next cycle.

We see our challenging economic times as an exciting opportunity and, to the team at the Ellen MacArthur Foundation, getting that message out to young people is fundamental. I hope you can join us on this journey!

Colin Webster is the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Development Officer in Scotland. Contact colin@ellenmacarthurfoundation.org to arrange free CPD; visit www.ellenmacarthurfoundation.org for free teaching and learning materials.

Ricoh Ricoh developed its GreenLine range for ease of servicing and replacement of parts. Leased copiers and printers are inspected, dismantled and renewed in local hubs, a process which includes software updating and component replacement. The ‘local’ element is important, as shipping the printers back to Japan would not be economically viable; Ricoh employs c600 people in a refurbishing plant in Telford to undertake the task. The refurbished products re-enter the market with an ‘as new’ warranty. GreenLine products have become as important a business line to Ricoh as new equipment sales.

Desso With c600,000 tonnes of floor covering material being thrown away each year in the UK, and only 1% of that recycled, the carpeting industry has a tremendous impact and a key role to play in the future. In 2007, Desso was leading the pack in terms of a sustainable business approach, but the CEO, Stef Kranendijk, wanted to go further to create a model that, he says, “is good for people and the planet, but as experience has proven already, is also very good for business”.

Desso took three key steps: they changed the ingredients of their carpet tiles both to make the products harmless and to ensure they could be used in perpetuity; they developed unique equipment to process old tiles and recover 100% of the materials; and they changed their business model to a leasing system. When a fourth step, a factory which relies on entirely renewable energy, is complete, Desso will have a completely closed loop system in operation, resilient from raw material and energy price fluctuations.

As for today, Kranendijk says, “we’ve gained a competitive edge whilst making better products, when in 2009 eight out of the ten biggest carpet manufacturers recorded considerable losses”.

Renault Renault operates a dedicated remanufacturing plant near Paris.

There, several hundred employees re-engineer 17 different mechanical subassemblies, from water pumps to engines. Renault works with its distributor network to obtain used subassemblies, and supplements these with used parts purchased directly from end-of-life vehicle disassemblers, and with new parts where necessary. Renault’s ability to structure and run its reverse logistics chain and access a steady stream of cores, together with its deployment of highly skilled labour, has allowed the company to grow its remanufacturing operations into a €200m business.

Expert View: Rural Resilience

Landscape utility, livelihood security and resilience:

a complex dilemma for the rural poor

Professor Terence P Dawson, SAGES Chair in Global Environmental Change, University of Dundee One of the many challenges facing the rural poor in developing countries is the constant struggle to meet their basic daily needs in terms of safe drinking water, food provision and energy for cooking.

The immediate nature of these demands often forces poor rural communities to prioritise their short-term survival over longterm sustainability, resulting in environmental degradation through the misuse of resources.

Unlike many wealthy countries, developing countries have inadequate or nonexistent institutionalised ‘safety nets’, and poor people lack access to sufficient fertile land and secure income.

Under these circumstances, food, water and energy security in rural communities often depends on the regular flow of ecosystem goods and services from healthy natural environments. For example, alongside timber for construction and fuel-wood, forests have a wealth of other utilities, such as biodiversity for food provision (bush-meat, fruit, fungi, and other edible plants) and medicines. In addition, upstream forests help to maintain water regulation, moderating against flood and drought events, and protecting against soil erosion, especially on steep slopes.

“…a ban on grain exports imposed by Russia after wildfires devastated crops in 2010 resulted in civil unrest and turmoil in Mozambique…”

However, the recent accelerated pace of climate and economic change is creating uncertain futures in which developing countries that are already characterized by economic marginalization and volatile high-risk environments may be especially vulnerable. The ‘double exposure’ to the drivers of globalization and climate change is resulting in shocks or crises, for instance through unstable commodity prices or climate extreme events such as droughts, from which the poor find it difficult to recover.

For example, a ban on grain exports imposed by Russia after wildfires devastated crops in 2010 resulted in civil unrest and turmoil in Mozambique following rising wheat prices. The capacity to cope depends upon numerous factors, both intrinsic (resource availability and adaptive capacity) and extrinsic (rate, magnitude, and nature of change).

ecological systems (that is, their vulnerability towards specific threats and hazards) can be identified. Operational systems and procedures can then be implemented to eliminate the threat or hazard, reduce its frequency of occurrence, or mitigate its potential consequences.

It is only by attending to the

A socialecological system – the complex interactions between humans and their natural (biophysical) environment – must be socially equitable, economically viable and environmentally In Nepal, much of the foothills of the Himalayas has been bearable to be deforested due to fuel-wood pressure, or converted to sustainable. terraces for food production, which has led to significant soil Building erosion and degradation. © T P Dawson resilience in sensitivity and vulnerabilities of social-ecological systems, the social-ecological system to facilitating a return to stability perturbations in respect of our following a perturbation, priority livelihood securities that requires improved information we may truly hope to achieve about which communities and resilience. landscapes are most likely to be at risk, as well as about how policy-makers can leverage the adaptive mechanisms in social and natural systems to maximum advantage. Policy decisions will depend on judgments of potential risks and benefits, balanced against costs and available or anticipated resources. Decisions must balance trade-offs. For example, forest clearance to grow agricultural crops for sale reduces the availability of forest products for generating income and decreases the existence of ‘wild food’ that can become the only lifeline available to the rural poor in times of livelihood shocks (eg, crop failure).

Emerging risk management frameworks can help. The ‘BowTie’ approach is a powerful new stakeholder-led interpretative tool that provides a mechanism whereby critical weak elements and interactions in social-

Further Reading

Burton S, Shah P B & Schreir H: Soil degradation from converting forest land into agriculture in the Chitwan district of Nepal (Mountain Research and Development, 1989) Dawson T P, Rounsevell M D A, Kluvánková-Oravská T, Chobotová V & Stirling A: Dynamic properties of complex adaptive ecosystems: implications for the sustainability of service provision (Biodiversity and Conservation, 2010) Holling C S: Resilience and stability of ecological systems (Annual Review of Ecology and Systematics, 1973) Ingram J C, Whittaker R J & Dawson T P: Tree structure and diversity in human-impacted littoral forests, Madagascar (Environmental Management, 2005) Pidgeon J D, May M J, Perry J N & Poppy G M: Mitigation of indirect environmental effects of GM crops (Biological Sciences, 2007)

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The Nenets of Siberia Joanna Eede, Survival International

The Yamal Peninsula is a stretch of peatland that extends from northern Siberia into the Kara Sea, far above the Arctic Circle. To the east lie the shallow waters of the Gulf of Ob; to the west, the Baydaratskaya Bay, which is icecovered for most of the year. Yamal, in the language of the indigenous Nenets, means ‘the end of the world’; it is a remote, wind-blasted place of permafrost, serpentine rivers and dwarf shrubs, and has been home to the reindeer-herding Nenets people for over a thousand years.

Nenets herders have always moved seasonally with their reindeer, travelling along ancient migration routes. During the winter, when temperatures can plummet to -50°C, most Nenets graze their reindeer on moss and lichen pastures in the southern forests, or taigá. In the summer months, when the midnight sun turns night into day, they leave the larch and willow trees behind to migrate north. By the time they have crossed the frozen waters of the Ob River and reached the treeless tundra on the shores of the Kara Sea, they might have travelled up to 1,000km.

Today, however, this community finds itself increasingly vulnerable, most notably to the Yamal Megaproject, initiated in the 1990s, which this May began piping gas from the vast Bovanenkovo field to western Europe. The Nenets’ migration routes are now affected by the infrastructure associated with resource extraction; roads are difficult for the reindeer to cross, and they say pollution threatens the quality of the pastures.

“What happens to the land is very important to us”, Nenets © www.stevemorganphoto.co.uk

herder Sergei Hudi told Survival International recently. “We are afraid that with all these new industries, we will not be able to migrate anymore. And if we cannot migrate anymore, our people may just disappear altogether.”

The Nenets have had to face the threat of extinction before.

Under Stalin, for instance, Nenets communities were split into groups known as brigades, and forced to live on collective farms.

Each brigade was obliged to pay reindeer meat as taxes. Meanwhile, children were separated from their families and sent to governmentrun boarding schools, where they were forbidden to speak their own language.

With the collapse of communism, young adults began to leave their villages for cities, a trend which continues today. In urban environments, they find it almost impossible to adapt to life away from the cyclical rhythms of the tundra, and suffer from high levels of alcoholism, unemployment and mental health problems. For the Nenets who are still nomadic, however, their lands and reindeer herds remain vitally important to their collective identity. “Land is everything to us. Everything.” said Sergei Hudi. “The reindeer is our home, our food, our warmth and our transportation.”

Nenets’ coats are made from reindeer hide, threaded together with reindeer sinew. Lassos are crafted from reindeer tendons; tools and sledge parts from bone.

The covers of the conical-shaped tents (called choom or mya) are made from reindeer hide and mounted on heavy poles. Reindeer meat is the most important part of

the Nenets’ diet, eaten raw, frozen or boiled, together with the blood of a freshly slaughtered reindeer, which is rich in vitamins.

But the Arctic is changing fast, and not just from industrialisation.

With the ice melting earlier in the spring and not freezing until much later in the autumn, the herders are being forced to change centuries-old migration patterns, as the reindeer find it difficult to walk over a snow-less tundra. The rising temperatures also affect the tundra’s vegetation, the only source of food for the reindeer. And the melting permafrost has caused some of the tundra’s freshwater lakes to drain, leading to a decline in fish.

The Nenets have endured the challenges of colonial intrusions, civil war, revolution and forced collectivisation. Today, their herding way of life is again seriously threatened, and to survive as a people, the Nenets need unobstructed access to their pastures and an environment untouched by industrial waste.

“The Nenets people have lived on and stewarded the tundra’s fragile ecology for hundreds of years,” says Sophie Grig of Survival International. “No developments should take place on their land without their consent, and they need to receive fair compensation for any damages caused.”

With countries and corporations clamouring for a piece of the Arctic, the concerns of this community surviving at ‘the end of the world’ can only grow more urgent.

See www.survivalinternational.org or www.stevemorganphoto.co.uk for more information.

“The Nenets have endured the challenges of colonial intrusions, civil war, revolution and forced collectivisation.”

Expert Views: Community Resilience

Ready for Emergencies Stewart Borthwick, Regional Resilience Advisor, Strathclyde Emergencies Co-ordination Group

There is no crystal ball into which we can look and see what the next big challenge to our safety and security is going to be. We can, however, identify potential threats and hazards to our society, and assess how likely they may be and what impact they may have. The results of these assessments are found in the National Risk Register and, at a more local level, our community risk registers.

“For our communities to be truly resilient, they themselves must engage in ensuring that they are ready for emergencies.”

These registers cover a wide range of potential events, some which are relatively obvious, such as pandemic disease, flooding or terrorism, others which are rather more left-field, such as volcanic eruptions (remember Eyjafjallajökull?) or severe space weather (the effects of solar flares on electricity supply).

This model village is an interactive tool used by the Scottish Flood Forum.

Simply identifying potential risks is, of course, not enough. As you might expect, a wide range of organisations come together to consider how best we might actually deal with such risks.

These organisations, known as Category 1 responders, include police, fire and ambulance services, local authorities, health boards, and national bodies such as the Maritime & Coastguard Agency and SEPA. It is a legal duty for these responders to cooperate with each other in preparing for, responding to and recovering Ready for Emergencies is an online resource from any major that contains a range of materials to help children emergency. This and young people prepare for and deal with emergencies. collective working

has built strong relationships over time, leading to an effective partnership approach. Indeed, this partnership approach goes beyond these agencies and includes many others such as utilities companies, transport operators and the voluntary sector to name but some.

Increasingly, however, it is felt that preparing for and responding to any type of civil emergency is not something these agencies can do in isolation. It is now widely accepted that the most effective approach is one where communities themselves are involved as part of the solution.

This concept, known as community resilience, is something that government, both Scottish and local, is keen to develop further.

In doing so, the main focus thus far has been to facilitate what local communities want to do or are actually doing to prepare themselves. Local communities generally know their local risk profile very well, and it is often forgotten that, in many incidents, the first people on the scene are usually members of the local community. This has been, and will continue to be, a sound foundation upon which to build robust community resilience.

In acknowledgement of this, the Scottish Government has published a range of guidance for local communities to help them get started in organising themselves (see www.readyscotland.org/mycommunity). In addition, councils across Scotland are closely engaged in working with community groups to develop their resilience, working in a way that recognises the local perspective.

Barriers exist of course; insufficient knowledge, lack of confidence or simple apathy can inhibit progress. Much of this can be and is effectively addressed at a local community level. On the national scale, however, an additional approach has recently been taken.

In this approach, education is the key, and the introduction of the new Curriculum for Excellence has offered an opportunity to do things in a slightly different way.

The new curriculum is largely outcome-based, and even a brief look at some of these outcomes illustrates their relevance to

developing community resilience.

The new curriculum is largely outcome-based, and even a brief look at some of these outcomes illustrates their relevance to developing community resilience.

In the curriculum area of social well-being, for instance, outcomes include “Through contributing my views, time and talents, I play a part in bringing about positive change in my school and wider community.” and “I know and can demonstrate how to keep myself and others safe and how to respond in a range of emergency situations.”

In recognition of this, an educational resource, Ready for Emergencies (see www. educationscotland.gov.uk/ readyforemergencies), has recently been created by a group consisting of teachers, resilience practitioners, parents’ representatives and British Red Cross. This resource gives teachers access to a range of teaching aids designed to equip pupils to make considered judgements in preparing for and responding to emergencies. It is further hoped that, thus prepared, pupils will feel confident enough to actively use their knowledge, not only for their own benefit but also to the benefit of their communities.

We cannot know exactly what type of emergencies we will face in the future. Nor can we know at this early stage how effective this new learning resource will be. What we do know is that resilience cannot be the responsibility of responders alone. For our communities to be truly resilient, they themselves must engage in ensuring that they are ready for emergencies. In the words of an influential Demos paper, “next generation resilience relies on citizens and communities, not the institutions of state...”.

If we expect communities to contribute to developing their own resilience, then we must give them a range of tools to do so. Engaging with the children of today will hopefully assist the communities of tomorrow, and the creation of this teaching resource might well be one of those tools.

The

Geographer

14-15

Autumn 2012

Building the resilience of ‘vulnerable’ people in natural hazard events Dr Ed Hall, Geography, School of the Environment, University of Dundee

There is clear evidence that older people, disabled people, and people with chronic conditions such as arthritis, are more likely than others to be adversely affected in the event of flooding, a severe storm, prolonged snowfall or a heat wave. Transport disruption means carers are unable to reach their clients and people can’t get the medication they require, weather conditions mean that individuals are unable to get out of the house for extended periods causing social isolation, people on low incomes are unable to heat (or cool) their houses sufficiently, and those who have to be rescued from their houses experience fear and stress.

This presents many challenges for those organisations providing care and support. Improved data gathering and sharing can improve the speed and effectiveness of any response, but it arguably does little to address the underlying causes of ‘vulnerability’ and the building of resilience amongst disabled and older people to cope with future (and seemingly more frequent) events.

Dominant measures of ‘vulnerability’ cast ill health, old age and disability as increasing the ‘susceptibility’ both of individuals, and of places with high proportions of these groups.

What these measures do not assess is the social and place contexts within which older, disabled and chronically ill people live – factors such as inequalities of wealth and poverty, housing quality, accessibility of local streets, public transport, care provision, social networks, and local attitudes towards older and disabled people, can make a real difference to the experience of an older, disabled or ill person when a flood or heavy snow hits, shaping what has been termed their socio-spatial vulnerability.

However, still missing here are the voices, opinions and experiences of older, disabled and chronically ill people. What do they think are the key problems? What do they identify as making them vulnerable?

Indeed, what do they think about being labelled as ‘vulnerable’ in the first place? One of the few studies undertaken is by the Scottish

Council for Voluntary Organisations (SCVO), in the Highlands. The study gathered stories of difficulties with transport and accessing care, and experiences of fear and isolation.

Importantly, however, these tales were interlaced with accounts of acts of kindness by friends and neighbours, and community support and organisation. These not only made difficult situations bearable, but also strengthened existing community ties and built new relationships.

To better assess the socio-spatial vulnerability and resilience of local communities, participatory mapping can be very effective. Developed in countries in the Global South that have experienced severe natural hazard events, participatory mapping can offer the opportunity for everyone in a local community to come together and make a contribution to describing and analysing the weaknesses and strengths of a local area and its people and organisations. Largescale, interactive three-dimensional maps are best, allowing people at a series of events to add labels and photographs, and to identify key locations and links.

Why mapping rather than, say, focus groups? Maps, as we know as geographers, are powerful instruments, which in this instance are able both to capture existing complex material vulnerabilities, and to identify sources of potential resilience. And there is something about being with other people and physically adding on labels and photographs that stimulates open and supportive discussions.

Evidence suggests that a series of open and interactive mapping events can help to build a more cohesive and robust community, an essential prerequisite for resilience. People learn that doing things together is useful; they also learn in a nuanced way about who needs help and where they are, and who can help and how. One key finding of the SCVO research was that, through the process of working together to cope with severe weather, the wider community discovered that many older and disabled people had much knowledge and experience to offer in how to deal with difficult

circumstances.

Those deemed ‘vulnerable’ were in fact part of how resilience could be developed.

“What participatory mapping can offer is a chance to… see resilience as about… ‘bouncing forward’ into a future that is more socially and environmentally just.”

Resilience is usually thought of as the ability to ‘bounce back’; to anticipate, minimise and absorb external shocks, and to rapidly get back to normality after an extreme event. However, participatory mapping and similar exercises reveal that all local communities are characterised by some degree of social inequality and prejudice, poor physical environment and weak infrastructure. What participatory mapping can offer is a chance to uncover and address these problems, alongside the more focused concern with extreme weather events, and in the process see resilience as about change, about ‘bouncing forward’ into a future that is more socially and environmentally just. The Scottish Government’s Climate Change Adaptation Framework, which aims to increase the resilience of Scotland’s local communities, would arguably be strengthened by adopting such an approach.

Further Reading

Joseph Rowntree Foundation: Climate change, justice and vulnerability (2011) Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations: Climate change: how will vulnerable groups weather the storm? (2011)

Opinions: Developing Resilience

Scotland The Hydro Nation:

water resilience in a water stressed world Jon Rathjen, Scottish Government The world is waking up to the critical importance of water and to its scarcity in many places.

Scotland The Hydro Nation is the Scottish Government’s response to the growing awareness and appreciation of water as an asset and as a critical global resource. That heightened profile for water is an opportunity Scotland means to seize.

We live in a world in which one in eight of the world’s population do not have access to clean water and 2.5 billion live without basic sanitation.

Climate change and population pressures will lead to an estimated 30% increase in demand for fresh water, in just 20 years, right across the globe. With that stark reality in mind, Scotland has a clear responsibility to bring our expertise to bear to the benefit of the global community.

We are fortunate to have a relative abundance of water, and in having that resource we have built up knowledge and developed technologies that have been effective here in Scotland but could also be beneficial elsewhere. At the end of May, the First Minister and Mary Robinson made a joint announcement on our promise to take international action on climate and water issues. Scotland’s £3 million Climate Justice Fund is now open and will focus on water management in developing nations.

suffering water stress is rising, and estimates suggest towards half the world’s population may find themselves in this position by 2050.

There is an undeniable case for water being a sector with growth potential to support Scotland’s low carbon economy. The market for water technology and services is a significant one. In 2008-09, the global water supply and waste water treatment subsector was estimated to be worth £242 billion, and the UK market was worth £8 billion and growing.

In Scotland, it had a market value of £709 million and employed 6,200 people, and we want to grow this further. We are aware of well over 300 companies in Scotland working in this sector.

Scotland’s research intensive SMEs have developed world leading technology, in particular for water treatment.

“Scotland has the capacity and the enthusiasm to contribute to better global water management.”

So we are committed to offering support to the developing nations in the world. Crucially though, this is a serious problem for developing and developed nations alike. The number of countries

Scotland has positioned itself to take a leading position in tackling climate change, and our commitment to the low carbon economy takes us naturally towards an emphasis on environmental and clean technology. Scotland can grow this sector and help many countries to protect and improve their fresh water provision and so boost their economic growth.

We mean to capitalise on that market potential, so we have just commissioned a feasibility study for our own Hydro Nation Innovation Park to support technology development and to bring the industry together to implement innovative solutions.

So what is a Hydro Nation and why does Scotland want to be the first? A Hydro Nation is one which regards water as part of its national and international identity, and recognises that the sustainable management of its water resource is crucial to its future success and a key component of a growing low

carbon economy with flourishing international trade.

The Scottish Government has consulted twice on the management of water resources, and proposals for legislation have now been introduced into Parliament in the shape of a Water Resources (Scotland) Bill.

Crucially, that Bill will place a duty on Scottish Ministers to take steps to ensure the sustainable development of the value of Scotland’s water resources.

They will be required to take forward a vigorous programme of measures across all sectors, to improve the economic, social and environmental value of our water resources. Those resources start with water itself but include our expertise, academics and business, and our water governance model that includes building further on the success that is our high performing national public water company – Scottish Water.

It will capitalise on the market potential and respond to the global water challenges, increasing our international presence and profile. It will also ensure that we protect and enhance our environment by greater water efficiency and reducing the energy we use to manage our water, and indeed by generating more energy from water and the land around our water assets.

All this backed up with practical programmes on knowledge exchange and innovation support.

We will shortly establish The Hydro Nation Forum for Water, convened by the Cabinet Secretary, which will bring together a high calibre team to give it energy and direction.

Scotland has the capacity and the enthusiasm to contribute to better global water management.

We can offer world class knowledge and technology, and we have the communications capacity and global reach to project key messages on water issues and build our reputation as a Hydro Nation.

The

Geographer

16-17

Autumn 2012

The inevitable outcome?

Ken Webster, Ellen MacArthur Foundation

Try to answer this question. If a business creates value for shareholders by selling either large quantities of material, or products based on large inputs of fossil fuel energy, where is the value to come from if neither materials nor energy are cheap or available? Then add price volatility when supply gets tight (the last ten years have heralded in a 147% rise in raw material costs), and the ample evidence that basic capital stocks such as soils, forests and fisheries are degrading just as demand from rising middle classes in Asia is soaring. And then add today’s demographic growth rates, with a city the size of London being added to the planet every 38 days. It’s a real conundrum.

It doesn’t take much reflection to grasp that we are headed for a circular economy. The circular economy speaks directly to the advantages of recapturing materials at high quality – or never letting them go – and cascading energy, scavenging its ability to do work as it flows through. It also speaks to shifting from elements, like rare earths, which are in limited supply and/ or controlled by nations which may turn off the supply for political reasons, to elements which are plentiful. It’s logical and reasonable, and geographers will recognise much from their study of systems, ecology and living systems, and feedbackrich physical processes. A linear economy, by contrast, isn’t a long-term proposition as it simply lacks feedback.

With a circular economy, value comes from optimising cyclical flows, both biological (materials designed to cycle harmlessly through the biosphere) and technical (molecules which are human-created or refined and are kept away from the biosphere).

Energy requirements suggest a shift to renewables, often integrated into, or a by-product of, the creation of intentional materials cycles in the biological realm; an example would be biogas. This is all a very big challenge.

The main enabler of the system shift is prices, currently orientated towards throughput and ensuring cheap energy and growing consumption, and so there’s a clear tension or mismatch in a period of transition. Without a reorientation of prices to reflect overall costs and changed fiscal measures (by shifting towards resources, energy and waste and away from taxing labour), and the creation of a level playing field (by switching out of heavy subsidies for fossil fuels and exploitation of forests, fisheries and soils), there is every incentive for firms to stay and play within the existing scheme. This comes with potentially serious outcomes, a kind of ‘last man standing’, eking out whatever flow of resources can be burnt up for whatever rump of paying consumers that still exists.

The Ellen MacArthur Foundation, as a charity, is working closely with business, encouraging debate and taking on work in

reorientating education towards these new emerging realities. This is no simple task, as the whole structure and reward system of the educational establishment is also orientated towards a world which is passing; it is built around the needs of a linear economy, one where specialism trumped generalism, one where the benefits of conformity beat the excitement of creativity, innovation and radical design excellence, one where the value of ideas themselves is less compelling than demonstrating an utilitarian target-meeting mentality, regardless of whether this added to overall well-being or not.

The Foundation offers counterpoints to the notion, common in many aspects of work in a sustainability context perhaps, of just ‘doing less harm’ or evoking guilt or personal responsibility, rather than using the ‘systems good sense’ that geographers possess, and harnessing this to the possibility of creating a positive cycle of change which draws young people; the idea of joining businesses who aspire to be regenerative of capital, because it makes sense, to increasing quality, to better access to goods and services, because it adds to jobs, income and well-being; and if done in a way which reflects intentional ‘design for fit’, it is design for the future, one where ‘waste = food’ and where the question is not ‘can we still have economic growth?’ but ‘what do we want to grow?’.

“The main enabler of the system shift is prices, currently orientated towards throughput and ensuring cheap energy and growing consumption.”

Education

The World

at Our Feet In May 2011, RSGS launched an exciting new project – The World at Your Feet – when a large world map (approx 8m x 6m) was painted onto the Perth Academy playground.

The aim was to place geography at the heart of the curriculum, by providing an inspirational interactive teaching aid which could be used in a number of ways by schools throughout Scotland.

Since that time, the idea has been enthusiastically adopted by two dozen primary and secondary schools across Scotland, from Tarbert Academy in Argyll to Bridge of Don Academy in Aberdeen. However, painting the playground maps this summer hasn’t been without its challenges for artists Catriona MacKay and Wayne Rodgers!

“When I hear on the news that this has been the wettest summer on record, I think about the 15 maps we have managed to paint across Scotland this year,” said Catriona. “It has been a challenge to work around the rain. It usually takes around three and a half hours for one of us to paint the map using the stencils, less than two if we are both involved. We have had lots of false starts, sometimes arriving at schools just as a torrential downpour starts, but we have made the most of any sunny days and kept our fingers crossed for dry ground to paint on.

Pupils and teachers have been intrigued to watch the painting progress, and their responses to the finished map have been fantastic. We are still painting into September, and keeping fingers crossed for lots of sunshine and that the cold holds off!”

“You learnt new skills.”

“I liked discovering new places.”

“It was fun.”

S1 pupils, The James Young High School.

“The weekend created the perfect relaxed environment to generate ideas. I feel inspired and plan to include some of these creative ideas in S1/S2 courses.”

Gill Reid, Geography Teacher, Perth Grammar School

A participant on the Mapping Our World course made a world map with his packed lunch foil, then collected items from the surrounding woodland to show different climatic zones. This idea can easily be scaled up and adapted to use with the playground map.

Over the first weekend in September, we ran our first Mapping our World training course, where nursery, primary and secondary teachers came together with artists, writers, ecologists, youth workers and social workers to explore how the playground map can be used creatively across disciplines to support both formal and informal education. Feedback from participants was very positive.

The James Young High School in Livingston had their map painted on a rare sunny day in June. Two weeks into the autumn term, geography teacher Elaine Batty has already been enthusiastically trying out some ideas with her S1 class identifying climatic zones around the world.

Over the next few months, we plan to work with schools and communities in a number of localities to trial and assess linked resources and activities. These will eventually be shared digitally with all schools on our website and through the Teachers Intranet (GLOW).

“The course got me thinking about how we could use the map to bring communities of different ethnic backgrounds together.”

Shaun Bartlett, Youth Worker, Perth

Participants on the Mapping Our World course enjoyed the chance to pick up some new ideas from a range of books and from each other.

The

Geographer Forest heat and light A NERC-funded team of researchers led by Dr Richard Essery from the School of GeoSciences has completed two six-week fieldwork campaigns measuring the light and heat environment in the forests of northern Sweden and Finland. The data will help explain how trees and snow interact to affect the overall land surface reflectance (albedo), a crucial parameter in models that predict weather and climate.

CAST Professor Paul Palmer of the School of GeoSciences is leading a NERC-funded project, Coordinated Airborne Studies in the Tropics (CAST). This focuses on better understanding the chemistry and vertical transport of halogenated compounds from the troposphere into the lower stratosphere where they participate in the destruction of ozone. The tropical tropopause is a major atmospheric gateway between the troposphere and stratosphere, and changes in atmospheric composition in this region (12-16km) have far-reaching implications for determining Earth’s radiative balance.

Universities of Edinburgh & Glasgow CRESH The Centre for Research on Environment, Society and Health (CRESH) is a virtual centre joining researchers from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow. Their research is concerned with how physical and social environments are related to population-level health outcomes and inequalities; they are particularly interested in how aspects of the natural and built environment can work to improve health. Research is funded through various national and international funding bodies, and work is published in the leading international medicine, public health and social sciences journals.

See cresh.org.uk for details.

University of the Highlands and Islands Landowners and community engagement Researchers at the Centre for Mountain Studies at Perth College UHI have published a short booklet, Working Together for Sustainable Estate Communities, which explores the potential for more joint working and collaboration between privatelyowned estates, local communities and other partners. Based on evidence from case studies visited during the Sustainable Estates for the 21st Century project, the booklet draws specifically on research into the role of private landowners in facilitating sustainable rural communities (carried out by Annie McKee, now based at the James Hutton Institute). Real examples of the benefits of collaboration are included, along with some ‘ways forward’ for landowners and communities.

Community members, rural estate representatives and other stakeholders attended workshops in Braemar, Lochinver and Cairndow in late 2011; comments received at the workshops and via the project website were incorporated into the final booklet. See www.perth. uhi.ac.uk/sustainable-estates for details; contact jayne.glass@perth. uhi.ac.uk for a hard copy of the booklet.

University of St Andrews Olympic Medal Mapping Dr Carson Farmer, Research Fellow in the Centre for GeoInformatics in the School of Geography and Geosciences, created an interactive map showing the global spread of Olympic Medals gained at 2012 in London, after realising no existing maps provided any real context for comparing Team GB with other nations. Dr Farmer said “Being a geographer, I decided to add context by creating a contiguous cartogram where we could compare

total medals versus per capita medals visually. A cartogram also provides context, in that the general shapes and locations of the countries remain (relatively) close to what people expect, so for instance it is very easy to see that Europe has lots of medals per capita. Basically it warps the shapes of countries to change their area relative to some measured value, which in this case is the number of medals achieved.”

The size of each country is based on the total number of medals it has achieved, weighted by the type of medal; a country with one gold medal should be approximately the same size as a country with three bronze medals. The map is available at www.carsonfarmer. com/examples/olympic_countries.

University of Stirling GloboLakes

A consortium of scientists from the universities of Dundee, Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling, the NERC Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, and the Plymouth Marine Laboratory, has been awarded a £2.5m grant to develop the world’s first satellitebased global lake surveillance system. Led by Dr Andrew Tyler, Head of Biological & Environmental Sciences at Stirling, the researchers plan to use satellite images to monitor the impact of environmental change on lakes and reservoirs, and hope the new system will help expand knowledge on how the ecological structure and function of lakes can be damaged by external changes, such as the influx of certain nutrients, increased sediment and climate change. Dr Tyler said, “Despite their importance and sensitivity to change, only a very small number of lakes have been studied consistently and in any detail.

This world-leading research will enable us to observe the conditions of over 1,000 lakes around the globe in a consistent way and also retrospectively, by using archived images from over a decade ago.”

See www.globolakes.ac.uk for details.

University News

University of Edinburgh

18-19

Autumn 2012

Scottish Geographical Journal

The RSGS’s academic journal is available from Taylor & Francis on-line at www.tandf.co.uk/journals/ RSGJ or in hard copy. All RSGS members are entitled to receive the Scottish Geographical Journal for free. If you are not currently receiving the SGJ but would like to, please contact us by emailing enquiries@rsgs.org or phoning 01738 455050.

Opinion: Community Resilience

Welcome to Scotland’s Most Musical Housing Estate George Anderson, Communications Officer, Sistema Scotland

Visitors to Raploch in Stirling will often be met by a small voice asking, “What do you play?”

The children here just assume everyone plays something.

The roots of this attitude go back to the mid-1970s in Venezuela, where Maestro José Antonio Abreu began running music lessons for a handful of children in a parking garage. Today ‘El Sistema’ involves half a million children in centres across the South American country. It has produced some of the finest classical musicians in the world, but behind these musical achievements is an even more exciting story. El Sistema uses the symphony orchestra to benefit society. It produces not only musicians, but also happy and well-equipped citizens. And lots of them.

Learning any artistic skill can have knock-on benefits in terms of self-esteem, discipline and pride, but Maestro Abreu took this to a whole new level by making all of his orchestras first and foremost engines for social change. The transformation is not just of individuals but of whole communities.

In the summer of 2008, the charity Sistema Scotland established its Big Noise orchestra in Raploch. Big Noise is officially partnered with the Venezuelan programme and has the same aim – to transform lives with music.

The key is a lot of rehearsal and an emphasis on ensemble playing from the start. Older children typically attend three afternoons a week after school and in the holidays too, with the most advanced players coming in four days a week.

There are now over 450 children from babes in arms through to 12-year-olds involved in Big Noise.

Around 75% of the primary school-aged children in the estate are involved at any given time. The orchestra will grow with this new generation through to adulthood.

All this is within just a couple of square miles. Raploch is a tiny place that teems with musicians.

This summer, the best of Venezuela’s El Sistema graduates visited Raploch for a thrilling fourday residency working with Big Noise, culminating in a massive outdoor concert launching the London 2012 Festival. Superstar conductor Gustavo Dudamel led the children, and the Simón Bolívar Symphony Orchestra of Venezuela, in the celebration of El Sistema’s achievements and the power of music to change lives. A third of a million people watched on TV, with 7,000 in the live audience on the ground.

Big Noise continues to go from strength to strength in Raploch, and there are plans to roll out the programme to other communities across Scotland. Maestro Abreu has invited the children to come to play in Venezuela in 2013.

It is one thing to measure the musical success of an orchestra – but what about the social transformation at the heart of Big Noise’s mission? The Scottish Government commissioned an

All images © Marc Marnie

independent evaluation which states, “there is evidence that Big Noise is having a positive impact on children’s personal and social development, including increased confidence, self esteem, a sense of achievement and pride, improved social skills, team working skills and expanded social networks.

For those children with special educational needs, behaviour issues or unsettled home lives, particular benefits include a sense of belonging, improved ability to concentrate and focus on a task, a sense of responsibility and positive behaviour change.”

While it is too early to measure long-term positive effects of membership of the orchestra, the report says it is “well placed to achieve a range of outcomes, including greater engagement in learning, higher academic performance, reduction in negative and health harming behaviours, benefits to families, employers and communities, and better employability skills.”

A survey of parents and carers conducted as part of the research found that, as a result of Big Noise, 100% thought their children were more confident, 93% thought their children were happier, 79% thought they were more willing to concentrate, and 43% thought they behaved better.

As the children grow and their music gets ever more impressive, it will be extraordinary to see the other impacts of such an intensely musical childhood in what is already Scotland’s most musical estate.

See www.bignoise.org.uk for more information.

“The transformation is not just of individuals but of whole communities.”

The

Geographer

Off The Beaten Track

20-21

Autumn 2012

A Love Affair and a Dirty Right Arm Linda Cracknell

“If this is Montana,” Vyv said, “what I want to know is, where’s Robert Redford?”

We were in the southern reaches of the Cairngorms, at Kirkmichael, and our two and four-legged cavalcade had just carved its way through the hills from Newtonmore via Blair Atholl, taking five days to cover 60 miles. The journey itself over rivers, through forests and valleys sculpted by ice, had seemed so much longer, made us feel so much smaller than the miles implied. Obviously, we were in Montana.

Our group – a sort of mobile conference of teachers, artists, writers, ecologists, pony enthusiasts, geographers – grew and shrank, transforming across the week. At our communal heart was a fascination with journey, as well as individual motivations such as a wish to walk with animals, explore and draw inspiration from the landscape, follow old ways and keep traditions alive.

Through glens and over passes we followed routes which had once forged lively connections between places. On the second day, we climbed high out of Glen Feshie, into smirr, onto Meall an Uilt Chreagaich. From there, a steep and slippery traverse south-west over Leathad an Tobhair would join us to the Minigaig Pass, the summit of a once important north-south road, and a possible route for drovers from Speyside to the cattle sales in Crieff or Falkirk. After Wade built the military road over Drumochter in 1729, it was used by many more drovers to avoid paying tolls.

The difficult, trackless section had challenged us, unsettled our steady progress. Laughter had hushed.

Then, processing across a high

plateau with banks of cloud rolling at our side, and perhaps in one of the remotest places in Britain, a large lump of white quartz gleamed against the dark heather, out of mist.

“Here we are,” said Ruaridh.

A further glint of white ahead, and another, more mistily beyond that, confirmed we were re-treading an ancient way as hooves and boots struck into soft peat on our gradual descent into Glen Bruar. As the first party to take animals this way for 100 years, we drew confidence from our forebears.

We had cattle with us only on the first day, but our Highland ponies, provided by Newtonmore Riding Centre, came all the way. They were sturdy and yet spirited, descended from mares owned in the early 19th century by a famous Lochaber drover. I’m sure those of us who had not travelled with pack animals before anticipated an easier hike without the burden of a heavy rucksack.

However, handling the ponies needed constant communication and concentration, not least in an effort to keep our feet from under theirs. With one hand on the rein we sought a trusting connection.

Too long and she might trip on it or sense a lack of guidance; too short and her freedom to jump obstacles on rough ground or find the surest way was compromised.

All other tasks – sandwich eating, rearrangements of pannier or rucksack – had to be carried out with one hand. The clothing of our leading arms was gradually rubbed dark against sweaty necks, grassy mouths.

Our steps soon rhymed with theirs.

With their heads nodding, breathing softly next to us, they clip-clopped their way into our hearts. Their names rang in our mouths like a poem: Torr, Zino, Bean, Blue, Breagh, Alice, Ailsa, Micky, Mack, and Marigold. The rhythms of any camping journey – pitching tents; cooking; sleeping – were extended by looking after the ponies’ needs – untacking; turning them out; finding water. At night they grazed close to our tents, their snorts oddly comforting, hooves drumming through our dreams.

In the mornings they gathered at the fence, watching us, apparently curious.

Despite our often remote location, and the sense at times of a haunted, abandoned landscape, each night we had extra company of some sort; folk joining us with songs or stories, or hosting us in their fields and steadings. At Bruar Lodge, three girls welcomed our tetchy arrival with smiles, and carrots for the ponies. At Newtonmore and Blair Atholl, ‘Meet the Drovers’ events gathered local people and tourists to pat the ponies and ask about the journey.

We drew local families after us in a carnivalesque wake for the sunny miles down Glen Fearnate and into Kirkmichael before our final event there. It was clear a nerve had been tingled by our quirky procession; a way of life suggested; a landscape looked at in a new light.

Departing from the Highland Folk Museum in Newtonmore, a diverse group of artists, writers, crofters, ecologists, historians, geographers and educators, ranging in age from 15 to 63, re-enacted a highland cattle drove this summer. The group travelled up Glen Feshie to a height of over 900 metres, picked up the Minigaig Pass to Blair Atholl, and finally followed the Cateran Trail to Kirkmichael, the site of a famous drovers tryst, or market. The droving journey was organised by the Royal Scottish Geographical Society in partnership with the SpeyGrian Educational Trust, with support from Perth & Kinross Countryside Trust.

For this drover at least, my walk across Montana was enriched by rekindling a teenage love affair. I never did see anyone resembling Robert Redford. But, ah, the ponies and their dear sweet ears...

“If this is Montana... what I want to know is, where’s Robert Redford?”

Book Club

Dark Waters

A History of the World in Twelve Maps

The Expedition Trilogy, Book 1

Jerry Brotton (Allen Lane, September 2012)

Jason Lewis (Billyfish Books LLC, August 2012)

Throughout history, maps have been fundamental in shaping our view of the world, and our place in it. But far from being purely scientific objects, maps of the world are unavoidably ideological and subjective, intimately bound up with the systems of power and authority of particular times and places. Map-makers do not simply represent the world, they construct it out of the ideas of their age. Professor Jerry Brotton, presenter of the acclaimed BBC4 series Maps: Power, Plunder and Possession, examines the significance of 12 maps, from the almost mystical representations of ancient history to the satellite-derived imagery of today.

Islands Beyond the Horizon The Life of Twenty of the World’s Most Remote Places Roger Lovegrove (Oxford University Press, USA, November 2012) Islands have an irresistible attraction and an enduring appeal: beautiful, isolated, sometimes dangerous, always inspiring.

Whether distant, offshore, inhabited, uninhabited, tropical or polar, each is a unique self-contained habitat with a delicately balanced ecosystem of plants and wildlife, and its own mystique and history. Renowned naturalist Roger Lovegrove takes us to 20 of the world’s most remote islands, from ice-locked Wrangel in the Arctic to storm-bound South Georgia off Argentina, and from the Mykines in Greece to the Polynesian archipelago of Tuamotu.

A Fabulous Kingdom The Exploration of the Arctic Charles Officer & Jake Page (Oxford University Press, USA, April 2001) Inconstant and forbidding, the Arctic lured misguided voyagers into the cold for centuries, pushing them beyond the limits of their knowledge, technology and endurance. This book charts these quests and the eventual race for the North Pole in unprecedented detail, chronicling the lives and misconceptions that would eventually throw light on this ‘magical realm’ of sunless winters. Setting the scene with an explanation of the region’s geography, geology and climate, the authors present the physical and ideological barriers that faced early sailors, then follow the explorers and the evolution of the Arctic mission, from the early journeys of Viking Ottar to the daring exploits of Martin Frobisher, Henry Hudson, Frederick Cook, Robert Peary and Richard Bird. This new edition features a section entitled ‘The New Arctic’, that illuminates current scientific and environmental issues that threaten the region.

Unjustifiable Risk?

The Story of British Climbing Simon Thompson (Cicerone, July 2010) The British invented the sport of mountain climbing and, for two periods in history, British climbers led the world in the pursuit of this beautiful and dangerous obsession. Unjustifiable Risk? is a social, economic and cultural history of British rock climbing and mountaineering, charting the conditions that gave rise to the sport, and the achievements and motives of scientists and poets, parsons and anarchists, villains and judges, ascetics and drunks who shaped its development over two hundred years.

eader Offer R save 25% Offer ends 31st December 2012

Climbing has both reflected and influenced changing social attitudes to nature and beauty, heroism and death. Much has changed over the years, but more has remained the same. Today’s climbers would be instantly recognisable to their Victorian predecessors, with their desire to escape from the crowded complexity of urban life, and willingness to take potentially unjustifiable risks in pursuit of beauty, adventure and self-fulfilment.

Readers of The Geographer can purchase Unjustifiable Risk for only £7.49 (RRP £9.99) with free p&p. To order, send a cheque (payable to Booksource) with your name and address to Cicerone, 2 Police Square, Milnthorpe, LA7 7PY, or buy online from www.cicerone.co.uk and add the voucher code ‘UNRISK’ on the shopping basket page.

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He survived a terrifying crocodile attack off Australia’s Queensland coast, blood poisoning in the middle of the Pacific, malaria in Indonesia and China, and acute mountain sickness in the Himalayas. He was hit by a car and left for dead with two broken legs in Colorado, and incarcerated for espionage on the Sudan-Egypt border.

The first in a thrilling adventure trilogy, Dark Waters charts one of the longest, most Jason Lewis will speak gruelling, yet uplifting and to RSGS audiences in at times irreverently funny Kirkcaldy, Edinburgh and journeys in history, circling Glasgow in March 2013. the world using just the power of the human body, hailed by the Sunday Times as “The last great first for circumnavigation.”