The Geographer: Seas (Summer 2010) by Royal Scottish Geographical Society

The

Geographer Summer 2010

The newsletter of the

The gulf between nations the politics and practicalities of protecting our seas and coasts

Royal Scottish Geographical Society

In This Edition... •N ews Features: The Icelandic Volcano & the US Oil Spill” •O n the Map: General Maczek’s Great Polish Map of Scotland •O pinion on: Geopolitics of the Northwest Passage • I nside the RSGS: The Fair Maid’s House Project Begins •C all for RSGS Medal Nominations •R eader Offer: 52 Weekends by the Sea

“ How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is quite clearly Ocean.” Arthur C Clarke

plus other news, comments, books...

RSGS – Making Connections between People, Places & the Planet

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ur seas and coasts hold an enduring fascination. Whether it is the aweinspiring sight of the wave-torn coast during a storm or the serenity of a glassy calm sea with sunshine-bathed beaches, our seas and coasts are an aesthetic treasure. But they are also vital to the healthy functioning of the Earth. Despite being a tiny fraction of the overall mass of the Earth, the oceans have a disproportionately high value, providing 99% of the living space on the planet by volume, covering 70% of the Earth’s surface and holding over 90% of the planet’s living biomass. They hide the highest mountains, the biggest waterfall, and nine out of every ten active volcanoes, and they play a crucial role in the distribution of rainfall to land and the long-term recycling of carbon. But where did our oceans come from? What will be the impact on the oceans and on ocean life of a warming climate or an increase in ocean acidity? Are we doing enough to look after them? What role does the geodiversity of our coastal areas play in providing protection from the worst excesses of present and future climate? The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is a stark and direct reminder of the impact we can have on our marine and coastal environments. But there are also numerous indirect impacts that are more insidious: we develop, drain, pollute or over-exploit; we reduce natural sedimentation from rivers; we cause irreparable damage to ocean and coast, and in so doing we also threaten our own lives and livelihoods. Monty Halls, who spoke for RSGS in Kirkcaldy in February, recounted the 2006 UNEP report that there are 46,000 bits of waste plastic in every square mile of ocean. And in the middle of the Pacific Ocean lies a floating garbage patch, estimated at twice the size of Britain, where the mass of plastic is six times greater than that of plankton. Is this symptomatic of a wider disregard? The seas are our main traffic and trade routes, the coasts protect our inshore areas by providing mobile buffer zones, and between them they contain much of our food. But do we continue to take them and their ecosystem value too much for granted? We ‘talk’ sustainability but do we practise it?

Celebrating 125 years of geographical education

1884

125th

Anniversary of RSGS

In May, around 50 guests involved in geographical 2009 education in Scotland attended a prestigious event held at Edinburgh Castle, hosted by John Swinney MSP. In his speech, Mr Swinney said,“Geographic information is vital to people and public bodies in Scotland today. At least 80% of all government information has a geographic basis and the people of Scotland all have their own personal geographies – their native heath, their home, their holiday plans, and the council and NHS board from which they access services.” RSGS Chief Executive Mike Robinson’s speech, reflecting on 125 years of RSGS’s promotion of geographical learning and calling for continuing political and financial support for geography teaching, was enthusiastically received - see page 18 for an abbreviated version.

How the election wasn’t won... We asked Dr Elizabeth Richardson of the University of Edinburgh to map out how the UK electorate returned its first hung parliament since 1974 in the recent Westminster elections. We think the results give an interesting graphic depiction of how the first-past-the-post system has worked regionally.

We hope this issue of The Geographer inspires our readers to find out more about the connections between oceans, coasts, people, places and the planet. Mike Robinson, Chief Executive Jim Hansom FRSGS, University of Glasgow 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 The views expressed in this newsletter are not necessarily those of the RSGS. Masthead picture: www.istockphoto.com Cover picture: Mike Robinson

Geographical map of UK results

Cartogram map of GB results

Great Britain mapping contains Ordnance Survey data © Crown Copyright and database right 2010. Northern Ireland mapping is provided with the support of the ESRC and JISC and uses boundary material which is copyright of the Crown, the Post Office and the ED-LINE consortium. Election data from www.guardian. co.uk.

Great Britain boundary data obtained from the Social and Spatial Inequalities Research Group at the University of Sheffield. Election data from www.guardian.co.uk.

RSGS – Making Connections between People, Places & the Planet

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Summer 2010

NEWS People • Places • Planet Sea change for Scotland Calum Duncan, Scottish Conservation Manager, Marine Conservation Society Thursday 4th February 2010 was an historic day for Scotland’s seas! After almost ten years of campaigning by the Marine Conservation Society in Scotland and partner organisations in Scottish Environment LINK, the Scottish Parliament had unanimously voted through legislation that committed Scottish Ministers to the “protection and, where appropriate, enhancement of the health of [the Scottish marine] area”. Joint campaigning also ensured Ministerial duties to deliver a national marine plan, to include environmental targets (‘marine ecosystem objectives’) in plans and to establish a network of nature conservation Marine

Protected Areas (MPAs). Together with some other technical amendments, these will enable a comprehensive ‘three-pillar approach’ to nature conservation sites, species, and wider measures such as marine planning - to be delivered throughout Scotland’s seas. Thanks to all our supporters, if well implemented, the Marine (Scotland) Act 2010 could take us a big step toward healthier seas and securing ‘good environmental status’, as we are committed to under the EU Marine Strategy Framework Directive by 2020. The Scottish Act covers the ‘Scottish marine area’, the territorial baseline to 12 nautical miles (nm). Following negotiation with the UK Government, under

the Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009 Scottish Ministers will also have responsibility for marine conservation, including identifying new MPAs, from 12nm all the way out to 200nm. So, this is a genuine ‘once-in-a-generation’ opportunity to reverse the centuries of damage that we have inflicted on our seas. New Marine Protected Areas are a key pillar for our seas’ recovery and you can let us know the places that you value on the coast or at sea by visiting www. mcsuk.org

Whose National Parks are they anyway?

Engaging with geodiversity why it matters

1st

December

This is the thought-provoking title of a conference being organised jointly by the RSGS, British Geological Survey and Scottish Natural Heritage, and sponsored by ScottishPower, to be held at Our Dynamic Earth in Edinburgh on 1st December 2010. It is appropriate, during the International Year of Biodiversity, to focus also on the concept of ‘geodiversity’, the varied physical landscapes created and altered by processes from volcanic activity and earthquakes to landslides, floods, coastal inundation and erosion. Geodiversity provides a major forum for geomorphology and studies of climate-change impacts, and is the foundation upon which plants, animals and human beings live and interact. It provides ‘services’ for economic development, including ‘geotourism’, is a source of inspiration for art, sculpture, music and literature, and has a fundamental bearing on the health and wellbeing of Scotland’s people. For more information, see the enclosed flier or visit www.rsgs.org.

28th

September

An informal panel discussion with local, national, international and political perspectives on what National Parks are delivering in Scotland, and their future challenges and opportunities, will take place from 7.30pm-9.00pm on Tuesday 28th September at Perth Concert Hall. There will also be a film by primary school pupils from the Cairngorms National Park, looking at the impact that climate change will have on the Park and how people can adapt to those impacts. This is a free public event, followed by a reception. It is part of the international conference on Global Change and the World’s Mountains, being organised from 26th to 30th September by the Centre for Mountain Studies at Perth College UHI. The conference is one of the events celebrating Perth’s 800th anniversary, and is expected to attract about 400 scientists from a very wide range of disciplines from around the world. About 100 posters presenting research will be available to view before and after the public event. For more details, see www.perth. uhi.ac.uk/mountainstudies/2010 or contact Stephanie Bungay, Cairngorms National Park Authority on 01479 873535.

NEWS People • Places • Planet An environmental disaster already twice the size of Exxon Valdez!

The 2010 Eruption of Dr Anthony Newton, University of Edinburgh

Jim Hansom FRSGS, University of Glasgow Following an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico on 20th April 2010, an estimated 210,000 gallons of oil per day was leaking from the well. The explosion and fire which killed 11 and injured several others caused the rig to capsize and sink. At the date of writing (20th May), the emergency response is still underway to stem the flow of oil and contain the existing slick, but it has already reached wildlife refuges and beaches in Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama, and fears now exist that the Gulf Loop current will sweep it to the environmentally sensitive Everglades and Florida Keys as well as the tourist beaches of Florida. The oil spill is a major threat not only to the sensitive wetlands of the Louisiana coast, home to 40% of wetlands in the USA, but also to the tourism and fishing industries, both major players in the local economies of these states. The Gulf wetlands are central to the breeding cycles of many fish and (commercial) shellfish species as well as to seabirds and mammals. The wetlands have been shrinking and are under threat from a range of other human activities such as coastal development, oil extraction creating subsidence, and declining sediment supply from rivers due to dams and levees (for example the Mississippi). The environmental damage attendant on an oil spill reaching these coasts will serve to further jeopardise wetland viability. Yet wetlands are vital protectors of the shore from flooding and erosion. When Hurricane Katrina hit the New Orleans region in August 2005, areas fronted by wide wetland buffers fared best since the defence levees held fast, but where the wetlands were absent the failure of the levees brought widespread flooding, erosion and devastation to central New Orleans.

The slick as seen by a NASA satellite in May. © NASA

On 20th March 2010, Eyjafjallajökull burst into life after nearly 190 years of inactivity. Up to that point, very few people outside of Iceland or the volcanological community had heard of Eyjafjallajökull, but this volcano has arguably had a greater global impact than any in Iceland since the huge Laki eruption of 1783, which resulted in shortterm climate impacts in the Northern Hemisphere and the deaths of tens of thousands of people. The impacts of the current eruption have been felt globally, with air travel severely disrupted due to worries about the damage that volcanic ash (tephra) can have on jet engines. As well as international impacts, the presence of hundreds of people living in small farming communities around the base of the volcano means it is important to understand how this eruption will evolve. Eyjafjallajökull is a 1.6km high stratovolcano on Iceland’s south coast, about 125km south-east of Reykjavík. The ‘jökull’ part of the name refers to the ice cap which covers the volcano’s summit. A 2.5km wide crater is found at the summit, from which a glacier, Gígjökull (crater glacier), flows northwards down the slopes of the volcano. It is probably one of the oldest active volcanoes in Iceland, and first began to erupt about 800,000 years ago. Whilst other Icelandic volcanoes such as Hekla, Katla and Grímsvötn have been active frequently over the last thousand years, Eyjafjallajökull has erupted on only three previous occasions since 9th century Norse settlers arrived in Iceland: in 920, in 1612, and in 1821-23. Its eruptions are actually relatively small, around ten times smaller

than the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens. The initial eruption was on the eastern flanks of the volcano, producing basalt lava flows and spectacular lava fountains, but not much volcanic ash. This type of eruption is relatively safe and many people made the journey to see it, until 12th April when the eruption ended. The next day, geologists noticed numerous small earthquakes beneath Eyjafjallajökull’s main crater and an evacuation of the surrounding area was immediately carried out. The small earthquakes were caused by molten rock squeezing its way to the surface, and the volcano erupted in the early hours of 14th April. As the molten rock came into contact with the overlying glacier, the resultant meltwater turned into steam, and it was the rapid explosive expansion of the ice into steam which literally blew the erupting lava into fine ash fragments (very similar to what happens if you pour water onto an oil fire). The volcanic ash was thrown over 8km into the atmosphere and the weather patterns directed the plume southeast towards Europe. Ash was also deposited on the farmland close to the volcano. The meltwater created as the eruption melted the overlying glacier ice flowed down the slopes of the volcano to form large floods (jökulhlaups in Icelandic). The largest of these floods emerged from the Gígjökull glacier, much as they did in 1821. In preparation, the Icelandic roads authority had cut gaps in the road embankments on either side of the main bridge

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NEWS People • Places • Planet

Eyjafjallajökull

Ay-yuh-fyat-luh-yu-kootl

across the Markarfljót river. This reduced the stress on the bridge, by allowing the flood waters an alternative route to the sea. Eyjafjallajökull stopped erupting on 23rd May, although it is not known if this is just a pause before more activity, or the end of the eruption. However, we do know that its previous eruptions have coincided with activity at its large neighbour Katla, immediately to the east. Katla has erupted around 20 times in the last 1,200 years, with eruptions generally larger than those from Eyjafjallajökull. It is difficult to predict exactly what impact a larger eruption of Katla will have, but it is certain that volcanic ashfall will have a big impact on the surrounding farming communities. Any eruption from Katla is also likely to disrupt air

travel; the prevailing winds will control where the ash is blown, but the individual volcanic ash grains from Katla tend to be larger than those from Eyjafjallajökull, so they are less likely to travel as far. We can confidently predict that any Katla eruption will produce massive glacial floods; the last eruption in 1918 produced a flood lasting several days which peaked at 300,000m3 per second, greater than the flow of the Amazon. Again the Icelanders are well prepared for such an eventuality, and embankments have been built to protect the town of Vík, which is at most risk. The next Katla flood will destroy infrastructure of the coastal plains, roads and power lines will be washed away, and it is unlikely any bridges will survive. This will cut the principal south

coast route in Iceland and cause significant local dislocation. At the time of writing, it is not possible to say whether Eyjafjallajökull will resume its activity or whether Katla will definitely erupt in the near future. But we will only get a few hours notice if activity does return, and it will be the weather systems which largely determine any international impact.

Main image: Eyjafjallajökull’s central crater showing steam (white) and volcanic ash (black/grey) being erupted, 21st April 2010. (Image: Thordis Hognadottir) Above: The eruption plume rising above Eyjafjallajökull, 6th May 2010. (Image: Thordis Hognadottir) Previous page: MODIS Terra satellite image of the plume heading towards Shetland, taken at 11.35 GMT 15th April 2010. (Image: NASA/GSFC, MODIS Rapid Response)

NEWS People • Places • Planet Re-thinking the city From 1st to 3rd October, a gathering in Edinburgh will attempt to ‘re-think the city’. Mirroring the International Meetings held by Sir Patrick st rd Geddes 1 -3 October and others 120 years ago, the gathering is intended to bring some of the best minds of Europe together to confront the issues of urban geography and social control. It is being organised by Friends of Riddles Court Edinburgh and the Saltire Society (Edinburgh) across several venues, and will combine both talks and participatory fora in an attempt to re-think the city as a place in which we would want to live. A number of speakers will look at such issues as feeding the city, land use and the common good, participatory architecture and the development of selfgovernment by local society. The gathering launches with Professor Alberto Magnaghi giving the first of the Edinburgh Lectures 2010-11 (see page 19, University News, Open University for more information).

Mashing up historical mapping Chris Fleet, National Library of Scotland

The National Library of Scotland has launched a new historical mapping application, allowing anyone to include selected geo-referenced maps of Great Britain in their own websites. Sets of Ordnance Survey mapping relating to Scotland, England and Wales, dating from the 1920s to 1940s, have been seamed together, geo-referenced and prepared for external use. The maps can be used for many purposes – integrated with other mapping, for research, as a backdrop for bespoke markers or mapping data, or for other collaborative mapping projects (such as OpenStreetMap). The application will also run on many mobile devices, including the iPhone, iPad or Google Android based phones.

The maps have been made available under a Creative Commons Attribution Licence, allowing free use and adaptation, provided it is properly attributed. In the

Trust for Scotland has welcomed some new faces. Dick Balharry was appointed as interim Chairman, succeeding Shonaig Macpherson who had been Chairman since 2005. Mr Balharry, who has been a member of the Trust’s Board since October 2008, will act as interim Chairman of the Trust’s Board and Council until a permanent successor is appointed, the process of which is now underway. Two new senior managers also joined the ranks. Pete Selman joined in November 2009 as Director of Properties and Visitor Services, while Terry Levinthal joined in February 2010 as Conservation Director. Former Presiding Officer of the Scottish Parliament, the Rt Hon George Reid, was appointed in October 2009 by the Trust’s Council

See the historical map API homepage (geo.nls.uk/maps/ api) for details.

National Trust for Scotland Over the past months the National

future, we hope to add more mapping – of other countries, and at more detailed scales.

Kate Mavor, Chief Executive

to lead a strategic review of the charity. Mr Reid is focussing on issues of long-term financial stability and governance and will make recommendations in July to ensure a “sustainable and secure” future. See www.nts.org.uk/About/ The-Review for more information. The charity’s conservation work continues with vigour. Amongst the 2010 highlights are the completion of the repair project at Craigievar Castle in Aberdeenshire (now reopened), and the Robert Burns Birthplace Museum. Work in Alloway is progressing apace and the state of the art exhibition is due to open in autumn this year. Elsewhere, work to reintroduce a thriving population of juniper has begun at Ben Lomond, using locally sourced cuttings. An ambitious programme to upgrade mountain footpaths on Arran gets underway soon.

Strategic Review In its April report, the Review Steering Group led by George Reid concluded that fundamental reform of the Trust’s governance is required if the organisation is to have a secure future. The Group reported that, in the views expressed by almost 7,000 Trust supporters, there is a clear majority opinion that the Trust’s current financial situation is unsustainable, and that the Trust’s “grossly inflated” governance structures impede setting a clear strategic direction and are the main barrier to renewal of the organisation. The Group took the view that the Trust should engage in an incremental programme of change, covering five years. “The danger for an organisation founded in the 1930s, acquiring a wide range of properties and functions thereafter, is that it becomes a confederation of interests,” said Mr Reid. “It ends up trying to do more than it can reasonably manage.”

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NEWS People • Places • Planet The Beasts with the Metal Skin

“The savages are the ones who destroy the forest.”

Miriam Ross, Survival International What’s the first thing that comes to mind when you think of Paraguay? For an increasing number of people around the world, it’s the AyoreoTotobiegosode, an indigenous group whose ancestral territories lie in the scrub forests of northern Paraguay in a region known as ‘the Chaco’. Today, that forest, the last refuge of an unknown number of uncontacted Totobiegosode, is being bulldozed by cattle-ranchers. For the Totobiegosode, this spells disaster: the end of their lives as they know it and exposure to lethal Western diseases which could decimate them. The Totobiegosode are totally dependent on the forest. It is the source of their food and water, the foundation of their society and culture, the crux of their identity. They build their homes out of it and fashion their clothes from it. In the last couple of years,

Pentland Firth and Orkney waters In March, the Scottish Government published the first stage report of a masterplan for the use of the Pentland Firth and Orkney waters. Environment Secretary Richard Lochhead said, “The Pentland Firth is an incredible resource with huge marine energy potential that is key to developing a Scottish wave and tidal energy industry. There are already billions of pounds of investment lined up to harness the power of the sea. “A Marine Spatial Plan will enable us to balance development in a sustainable manner, taking account of the interests of other marine sectors and users. When finalised, the Plan will be a planning tool for developers, regulators and users of the marine environment, setting out opportunities for our main marine energy resource area and ensuring conflicts with other users of the sea are avoided.”

thousands of hectares of the Totobiegosode’s forest have been cleared. The biggest culprit is a Brazilian company, Yaguarete Pora, which wants the land to graze cattle and sell beef for export. Some Totobiegosode have already been contacted and have relatives among those living in the forest, on the run from the bulldozers they call ‘The Beasts with the Metal Skin’. They have filed a legal claim for the forest being destroyed, but to date progress has been slow. “The savages are the ones who destroy the forest,” said one Totobiegosode man, Gabide Etacori, on a recent visit to Paraguay’s capital Asunción. “Our relatives, living without contact, need the forest to eat and for water. If the forest is destroyed, they’ll die.” See www.survivalinternational.org/ tribes/ayoreo for more information.

How big is the ocean? Using satellite measurements, Matthew Charette of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution, and Walter H F Smith of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, both in the USA, have come up with a new figure for the volume of the ocean: 1.332bn km3. The researchers reported in the journal Oceanography that the world’s total ocean volume is less than the most recent estimates, by a volume equivalent to about five times the Gulf of Mexico. While that might seem a lot at first glance, it is only about 0.3% lower than the estimates of 30 years ago. What may be more interesting, they say, is how accurate scientists were in the past, using cruder techniques. In 1888, for example, John Murray dangled lead weights from a rope off a ship to calculate an ocean volume – the product of ocean area and mean ocean depth – just 1.2% greater than the figure Charette and Smith now report. Murray’s scientific paper, published in the RSGS’s Scottish Geographical Magazine, may be the first published estimate of ocean volume. The satellite project has covered virtually all the world’s oceans, except for some areas of the Arctic covered with ice, resulting in a “new world map” of the oceans, says Smith. But more ship-based measurements are needed to augment and ‘fine-tune’ the satellite data. And so far, shipbased sonar and other instrumentation have mapped only 10% of the Earth’s seafloor. It would take a single ship 200 years to measure all the ocean-floor depths with an echo-sounder, according to US Navy estimates. “That would come to about $2bn,” says Smith. “NASA is spending more than that on a probe to [the Jupiter moon] Europa.”

NEWS People • Places • Planet The world’s deepest known undersea volcanic vents

Scientists detect ice on an asteroid Andy Rivkin of John Hopkins University and Joshua Emery of the University of Tennessee have reported the first detection of both water ice and organic materials on an asteroid’s surface. Their observations of asteroid 24 Themis – one of the largest main-belt asteroids, orbiting between Mars and Jupiter – suggest that asteroids might have played a larger role in forming Earth’s oceans than previously thought.

“This finding not only tells us more about the conditions when the solar A British scientific system formed, but means that asteroidal impacts early in solar system history expedition from may have brought a significant amount of water to the Earth.” said Rifkin. Southampton has Hydrated minerals have been identified on asteroid surfaces, and distant asteroids have been suggested as discovered the a source of water on the Earth, but this marks the first direct detection of asteroidal water. world’s deepest known undersea The Duke of Hamilton volcanic vents, At the time of going to press, we known as ‘black are sorry to hear of the death of His smokers’, more than Dr Catherine Morgan of the to relate the findings of their Grace The Duke of Hamilton, a Vice three miles down in investigations to members School of GeoSciences at President of the Society since 1974. the Cayman Trough of the general public. The the University of Edinburgh The Hamilton dukedom is the oldest in the Caribbean. project ended in May with a reports that the Scottish Earth in Scotland, dating back to the Using a deep-diving schools competition, chaired by Science Education Forum has mid-17th century. The Duke was vehicle remotely Professor Colin Graham (also been working in primary and Hereditary Keeper of the Palace of controlled from of the School of Geosciences) secondary schools in the area Holyroodhouse, and custodian of the Royal Research at Longannet power station. around Longannet in East Lennoxlove House in East Lothian. Ship James Cook, So impressive was their work Lothian to run workshops He is survived by his wife Kay. the scientists found that some of the pupils have on Carbon Capture and slender spires made been invited to the Scottish Storage with pupils in P7 and of copper and iron Parliament to demonstrate the S2. The pupils were invited ores on the seafloor, principles of Carbon Capture to come to the Edinburgh erupting water hot We are currently finalising details and Storage to MSPs. International Science Festival enough to melt lead, for public presentations to three of nearly half a mile our 2009-10 Medallists. Livingstone deeper than anyone Medallist Rory Stewart, Geddes has seen before.

Scottish Earth Science Education Forum

Presentations of RSGS Medals

Researchers developing ‘green’ cement

Scalding water that gushes from these vents nourishes lush colonies of deep-sea creatures, causing scientists to rewrite the rules of biology. Studying the lifeforms that thrive in such unlikely havens is providing insights into patterns of marine life around the world, the possibility of life on other planets, and even how life on Earth began.

Dr Moray Newlands and Professor Ravindra Dhir, from the Concrete Technology Unit at the University of Dundee, and Dr Kevin Paine, from the University of Bath, are working with collaborators in India to develop ‘environmentally friendly’ cement using waste materials. This is part of a UKIERI project, led by the University of Dundee, on how to reduce the carbon footprint of cement, which contributes to around 5% of global CO2 emissions. Portland cement, a major constituent of concrete, is made by heating limestone with clay at

Bees at risk from garden pesticides A Soil Association investigation has revealed that chemicals lethal to bees can be found in domestic gardening products on sale in UK supermarkets, hardware stores and garden centres. A group of insecticides called neonicotinoids,

high temperatures, a process that produces approximately one tonne of carbon dioxide for every tonne of cement made. The researchers are looking into ways of reducing this carbon footprint by replacing part of the Portland cement with waste materials such as fly ash from burning coal, slag from iron works, and even rice husks. Dr Paine explained, “Concrete is the second most used material in the world after water, and so reducing the CO2 emissions produced by it could make a real difference to climate change.”

first used in agriculture in the mid-1990s, have been linked to the dramatic decline in honey bee numbers seen in the past few years, and have been banned or suspended in several European countries,

Environment Medallist Yann ArthusBertrand, and Mungo 7th Park Medallist Ray September Mears have agreed to accept their Medals at public events at which they will also speak. We expect Yann Arthus-Bertrand to speak at a screening of his new film Home at Perth Concert Hall on Tuesday 7th September, and the other two events are likely to take place in September/October in Perth or Stirling. Details will be posted on www.rsgs.org and circulated to Centre Chairmen when available. including France, Germany, Italy and Slovenia. As the UK Government has so far failed to act on this issue, the Soil Association is calling on the chief executives of B&Q, Wilkinsons and Wyevale, to withdraw any products containing neonicotinoid pesticides.

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Round Britain & Ireland Speed Record June 2009. I was sitting patiently in the office checking the latest weather forecast, waiting for suitable conditions to embark on my latest challenge. As soon as the opportunity arose, my all female crew and I set out – aiming to become the fastest crewed monohull to sail around Britain and Ireland. I was racing, not cruising, around our beautiful coastline but I still hoped to catch glimpses of the scenery.

past Newcastle, avoiding oilrig obstacles along the way. The near-constant twilight conditions we experienced helped make difficult sailing conditions feel a little safer, and since you live a 24 hour day when racing anyway, traditional day and night become a thing of the past for the time you spend at sea. We passed Muckle Flugga at the northern tip of the Shetland Islands, and took in the dramatic location with huge sea cliffs and constantly swirling clouds of sea birds dominating the waves that crash against the shore. Puffins, gannets and skuas filled the sky; ashore we could see ponies grazing upon exposed hillsides.

Our start was off Ventnor (Isle of Wight) and the weather conditions dictated that we head east in an anti-clockwise route. As we made our way along the coast, we glimpsed the Seven Sisters and Beachy Head before dark; both looked magnificent. As Leaving the Isle of Lewis, we darkness crept in, we approached soon had the Emerald Isle in the narrows of the English our sights. We headed down the Channel and the busy shipping Atlantic, passing Galway with its lanes off Dover. We met ferries endless inlets and waterways, crossing the craggy Channel, countryside container and soaring ships cliffs. heading to Mercilessly the continent bashed by and the the constant North Sea, onslaught of and mud North Atlantic flats and depressions, dangerous this stretch Passing islands off the west coast shallows that of coastline is made for hazardous progress. as extreme as you can get and We crossed the mouth of the River Thames at sunrise, and as Essex honed into view we were alerted to a new offshore wind farm and were forced to sail around the vast area, all the while adding extra miles to our voyage and costing us precious time. The east coast of Britain is relatively flat countryside and it was staggering to see many offshore areas dedicated to wind generators. I am very keen on environmental issues and pleased to see advancement being made regarding renewable energy sources – but aware they are not always popular with local residents. (Presumably there had not been too many objections from the passing gulls and wildlife on this occasion!) We made steady progress north

Dee Caffari

we were pushing past it hard to make the miles while we still had the wind. The Fastnet Rock faded into the sunset behind us as we focused on our next goal – the flash of Bishop Rock Lighthouse on the western tip of the Scilly Isles – our entrance to the English Channel and the home straight. If we had expected a comfortable run towards the finish line we were going to be sadly disappointed. The final 24 hours were tough. We dealt with light and variable breezes and strong tides, which kept Lizard Point with us for most of the final night as we made less than a knot against the tide. Similarly at Portland Bill, where a tidal race catches many sailors out, we struggled to pull ourselves past

the protruding headland. It was incredibly frustrating. We made numerous sail changes to try anything to keep the boat moving forward. We were tired but the sight of St Catherine’s Point on the southern tip of the Isle of Wight gave us the last surge of energy required to cross the finish line at Ventnor.

At the start line

After a final exhausting push, we crossed the finish line at 8.40am on Monday 22nd June, completing the course in 6 days, 11 hours, 30 minutes, 53 seconds, shaving 17 hours off the previous record. The coastline of the United Kingdom covers a whole spectrum of geological phenomena. Savaged by the endless onslaught of wave action, some of these features will be there for a long time to come, some are already showing signs of erosion. The environment can be harsh and hostile along the 1,800 miles of coastline, with strong tides and busy shipping causing not only pollution but also hazards to wildlife and local inhabitants. Our prevailing south westerly winds bring with them a conveyor belt of Atlantic depressions that are wet and wild. For the majority of the year, gale force winds rage against the shore, delivering plenty of rain. However, when we do have a high pressure weather system over the UK, we really get a chance to explore our stunning coastline. I would heartily recommend seeing it closer, perhaps at a slightly slower pace than the one we favoured!

Oil rigs in the North Sea

Skipper: Dee Caffari Crew: Sam Davies, Miranda Merron & Alex Sizer Yacht: Aviva, IMOCA Open 60

Country in Focus

The Chagos

Islands

OK – we realise the Chagos Islands are a territory, not a country, but they are of particular and current interest because of their political and social history and their environmental wealth. The Chagos has the world’s largest coral atoll containing some of the world’s healthiest coral reefs, with 55 tiny islands in quarter of a million square miles of the world’s cleanest seas. It is by far Britain’s greatest area of marine biodiversity. For more information, see www.chagos-trust.org On 1st April, the Foreign Secretary reversed the course of history, at least from the point of view of the fishes. After millennia in which humans successively fished out rivers, coastlines and oceans, eating about 90% of the stocks of top predators just in the past half-century, David Miliband created the planet’s largest no-fishing marine reserve around the Chagos Islands, a group of five semisubmerged coral atolls in the middle of the Indian Ocean. All but one – Diego Garcia, home to a military base – are uninhabited and they are fringed by some of the most exquisitely intact coral reefs in the world.

The latter are north of the socalled tuna belt, the planet’s plankton-rich waistline where much of the world’s tuna come from. In fact, the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands were only being fished by a half-dozen rickety bottom-fish boats out of Honolulu. In the Chagos waters, more than 50 purse seiners from Europe scoop up entire schools of tuna in each set of their nets. These vessels have been taking out up to 23,000 tons a year for the canning industry, some of it juvenile fish killed before they had a chance to reproduce, according to a report on the Chagos by the Zoological Society of London. The implications of ending this fishery are huge, says Bruce

At 540,000km2, the reserve is about twice the size of the UK, overtaking Middle Brother Island © Charles Sheppard the previous record-holder, the Northwestern Collette, a senior scientist at the Hawaiian Islands. Designated a National Museum of Natural National Marine Monument by History in Washington, DC. Three President George Bush in 2006, species of tuna – skipjack, bigeye that reserve became a no-take and yellowfin – usually live out zone in January of this year. their lives within an 800km But ending fishing in the Chagos is much more important than doing so in the Hawaiian Islands, experts say.

radius, so quite a number of them are expected to remain inside the reserve their entire lives, beyond the reach of

Christopher Pala, a freelance writer living in Washington, DC

fishermen. “Once their numbers are allowed to grow naturally, they will reach a density not seen on Earth in many decades,” he said. The designation, according to marine biologist Charles Sheppard of the University of Warwick, the leading expert on the islands, is the third to be created in part as a result of efforts by the Pew Environment Group. “They saw that reefs are declining to an amazing extent, so they embarked on their Global Ocean Legacy project,” he said. The goal was to identify close-to-intact large swathes of ocean that could be turned into no-take reserves, and persuade governments to do so. The first goal was to end the stalemate on the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands, which two US presidents had tried to protect over ten years. The second involved the northernmost of the Northern Marianas Islands and the Marianas Trench. Though the total area designated (again by Bush) was huge, only in 16,000km2 was commercial fishing, close to non-existent anyway, prohibited. Put together with the Chagos, these three areas constitute 70% of the world’s marine no-take areas. Works in progress involve creating reserves in the Coral Sea off Australia and around the Kermadec Islands off New Zealand. Both are even bigger than the Chagos reserve, but not located in the tuna belt. “Enforcement is a huge challenge in managing marine reserves,” said Jay Nelson, director of

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Global Ocean Legacy, who has led Pew’s efforts to secure protection for these areas. “What makes the Chagos unique is that there is a base from which to anchor the enforcement effort. That will make it much easier to prevent illegal fishing.” According to Sheppard, the Pew Environment Group was the prime mover in a coalition called the Chagos Environment Network, which he joined as the senior scientific expert on the islands. The Network commissioned the Zoological Society report that compiled the scientific arguments to create the reserve. Other members include the Royal Society, the Chagos Conservation Trust (which had been pushing for protection of the islands for 20 years), the Linnean Society of London, the Marine Conservation Society, the Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, and the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. All urged Mr Miliband to end commercial fishing in the entire Exclusive Economic Zone. According to Alan Friedlander, a fisheries biologist at the University of Hawaii, the Chagos will always stand out. “This is the first time a complete marine ecosystem that was under serious fishing pressure has been fully protected, from beach to abyss.” As the density of the tuna rises, he predicted, they will attract the very top predators whose ranks have been decimated over the past half-century – marlins, swordfish and big sharks. These ocean-crossing fish would be likely to stay inside the wellstocked reserve, protecting them in turn from fishermen. “Even the birds that nest on these islands will benefit. They depend on the tuna driving small fishes to the surface so they can pick them off, so the more tuna, the more seabirds.” And the virtuous circle continues: little reef sharks feed on seabirds, so the increase in seabird numbers will help the shark population rebound. By all accounts, the coral reefs

are already among the most pristine in the world, comparable to those in the Pacific’s Line or Phoenix Islands, which are also now protected. “The water is the cleanest in the world,” says Sheppard, who has been studying the Chagos since the 1970s. He reports that since then, things haven’t changed much – and that is in itself remarkable. “Most of the coral reefs around the world have been heavily damaged in the past two decades,” he explains. When ocean water temperatures spiked in 1998, killing coral reefs all over the tropical oceans, many of the deeper reefs of the Chagos were unaffected. Because the water is so clear, the light penetrates further, allowing corals to grow in the deep, cool waters. “The shallow reefs were wiped out, but they have almost completely recovered, which is to say much better than pretty much anywhere else.” Diego Garcia, the island with the biggest land mass, is “the least contaminated inhabited atoll in the world,” despite a population of several thousand, he says.

times to force the government to let them return, without success. Mr Miliband has said that the Foreign Office’s designation of the archipelago and its waters as a reserve is “without prejudice” to the question of their eventual return. The latest lawsuit, before the European Court of Human Rights, has not been decided. Still, some Chagossian groups have attacked the designation as infringing on their future right to fish. Others, such as the Diego Garcian Society, have praised it. “Without protection,” wrote its chairman Allen Vincatassin, “Diego Garcia and the outer islands would have continued to be vulnerable to the effects of commercial fishing and the island’s natural resources would be threatened.” The curtailing of commercial fishing, he continued, “not only will benefit Diego Garcians and other islanders should we win the right to return, but it will help us maintain our cultural and ancestral heritage, as well as benefiting millions of people who rely on the western Indian Ocean for their daily needs.”

The reefs’ pristine condition is in part because the rest of the archipelago has been uninhabited for four decades. Unlike the West Indies, which were populated by Taíno and Carib Indians when Christopher Columbus showed up, the Chagos had only birds and giant coconut crabs when they were first sighted by Portuguese ships in the 16th century. The islands were colonized by France, which brought in slaves from Africa and Sri Lanka to work on coconut plantations. Ceded to Britain after Waterloo, the Chagos were evacuated in 1968 and the plantations were closed as demand for coprah fell and the US built a military base. The Chagossians, British citizens, were sent to Mauritius and the Seychelles and about 2,000 settled in Britain, many in Crawley near London’s Gatwick Airport. They have tried several

“What makes the Chagos unique is that there is a base from which to anchor the enforcement effort. That will make it much easier to prevent illegal fishing.”

Inside The RSGS

The Fair Maid’s House Project

he Society’s plans to create a new geographical education and visitor centre in the heart of Perth are soon to see the light of day. WH Brown Construction, the principal contractor, began work in June.

“...it will be great for Perth and for the RSGS to see this beautiful building given a new lease of life and reopened to the public.”

The project to renovate and open the Fair Maid’s House, and to build a beautiful new ‘link’ building to connect it to Lord John Murray’s House, is expected to be structurally complete by Christmas. It has been made possible with support from the Scottish Government’s Town Centre Regeneration Fund, Perth & Kinross Council, and several local charitable trusts. The façade of the listed buildings will not change, but the old red-brick ‘link’ building and much of the over-grown garden area will be replaced with a new lighter glass and steel-framed structure which will form an ‘L’ shape around the Fair Maid’s House. The completed building will house the RSGS’s collections and will host a number of displays on geographical issues, the history of the Society, and the geography and history of Perth and the house itself. We expect to open it to the public by Easter 2011, but it is likely to be manned by volunteers in the first instance, and exact timings still hinge on finding suitable revenue funding.

The mediaeval prayer niche on the first floor, currently blocked into a dark corner by a partition wall. The wall will be removed to create the new ‘story-telling room’, displaying interesting and evocative geographical artefacts.

The ground floor of the Fair Maid’s House, looking through into the ‘link’ building. These rooms will become interpretation areas with regularly-changing displays of geographical and local information.

RSGS’s Chief Executive Mike Robinson commented,“I am really pleased to see the project start – I think it will be great for Perth and for the RSGS to see this beautiful building given a new lease of life and reopened to the public.”

A rear view of the ‘link’ building and Fair Maid’s House.

The façade, showing (from left to right) the Fair Maid’s House, the current ‘link’ building, and Lord John Murray’s House.

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With planning complete and finance in place, the Society now starts work on the transformation of the Fair Maid’s House and the link into our current Headquarters building next door. We are delighted with the plans drawn up by our Glasgow-based architects, Page\Park, and I was able to show these to members in Inverness and Ayr when I visited these Centres; they were very favourably received. All Centre Chairmen have received a copy of these plans and will make this information available to you. As the building work proceeds, we will be designing the interior and have already isolated the key themes we wish to develop in our exhibitions and displays. We are taking professional advice on how these themes might best be advanced as we want to maximise the use of the space available, not least in terms of greatest flexibility. We also wish to make use of technology to put over the importance of geography today, both in Scotland and further afield, and its key role in helping solve the social and environmental problems the world faces. We need too to show something of the Society’s important history, function and purpose, and also to provide a vivid picture of the history of the Fair Maid’s House itself, not least the surviving late mediaeval wall from the Blackfriars Monastery. This site too was used on occasion as a Royal Palace by the Kings of Scotland, and of course has major literary associations with Sir Walter Scott.

The work starting, and an artist’s impression of the new centre, as seen from the adjacent multi-storey car-park.

The potential is enormous: not only will the Society benefit from the higher profile, but we will have created a national centre for the promotion of geography, a resource for geographical education, a tourist attraction and an asset for Perth in its 800th year as a burgh. All these initiatives must be of major benefit and potential for the people of Scotland.

Story-telling room Collections room

Lord John Murray’s House

First floor

Geological garden

These are exciting times; please continue to support us in any way you can. We are still accepting donations and are looking for names of volunteers who would be happy to assist in staffing the new centre once it opens next spring.

Education room

Archive room

Interpretation room Reception room

Lord John Murray’s House

Ground floor

Way in

A schematic layout of the new ground and first floor levels.

repairs to existing slate roof as per architect's speciﬁcation

Barrie Brown, Chairman repairs to existing slate roof as per architect's speciﬁcation

1W.03

1W.02

1W.01

Proposed First Floor + 8.650

repairs to existing masonry walls as per architect's speciﬁcation repairs to existing sash and case windows as per architect's speciﬁcation existing doors and ironmongery overhauled and re-used

Proposed Ground Floor

GW.04

GD.04

GW.03 GW.02

GD.01

GD.11

Expert Views: Seas & Coasts

Corals at risk Nick Kamenos, Department of Geographical and Earth Sciences, University of Glasgow

“...global tropical coral reefs are estimated to provide goods and services worth up to £250 billion, and when adding the services provided by cold-water calcifiers the figure is likely to be substantially higher.”

Most of the world’s oceans have marine organisms that build their skeletons of calcium carbonate. In the tropics, reef-forming corals and algae build extremely large carbonate frameworks, while in colder, higher latitude waters, red coralline algae, cold-water corals and worms also create significant carbonate structures. The roles of such biogenic carbonate structures in service provision are becoming increasingly understood, and are often dependent on the complex three-dimensional architecture they add to the sea bed. Tropical coral reefs are responsible for sustaining many fisheries as well as tourist industries. Less well known red coralline algae in temperate waters are vital nursery areas for juvenile species of commercial importance, and cold-water corals sustain deep water fisheries. However, the architecture of biogenic carbonate structures makes them extremely susceptible to anthropogenic damage. Fishing gear and tourist

trampling can destroy structures, high sediment loads associated with land use can smother calcifiers and may promote disease outbreaks, whilst heavy metals and oil pollution disrupt enzyme systems and suppress reproduction. Recently, new threats are linked to rising atmospheric CO2 concentrations associated with fossil fuel use, warming sea water and ocean acidification. Tropical corals are particularly sensitive to warming waters which can lead to coral bleaching. This condition occurs when corals eject zooxanthellae (photosynthetic protozoa) that live within their cells. Corals are dependent on zooxanthellae for carbohydrates, an essential energy source for survival in nutrient poor tropical waters. Coral bleaching and elevated water temperatures affect large areas, and the 1998 mass bleaching event led to the death of 16% of corals globally and 65% of the corals in South Asia. Corals can recover from bleaching events by repopulating their zooxanthellae but the condition is often associated with mortality. The oceans are a key sink for anthropogenic CO2 emissions. In the last 200 years they have absorbed half of the anthropogenically released CO2, leading to a 0.1 unit fall in their pH from a global mean of around 8. If these trends continue, oceanic pH is projected to fall by 0.5 pH units by 2100, leading to the lowest oceanic pH for the last few millennia.

Red coralline algae on the west coast of Scotland. Photo: Nick Kamenos

Critically, calcium carbonate dissolves at low pH. These calcium carbonate structures dissolve naturally at a depth controlled by temperature and depth-induced pressure. Increased anthropogenic CO2 absorption by the seas may cause this depth to rise closer to the ocean surface, especially in colder Polar seas, with knock-on effects for marine ecosystems. At reduced pH, carbonate organisms may exhibit substantially reduced calcification rates, up to 50% less by 2100. Corals and coralline algae are particularly sensitive to ocean acidification as they are composed of aragonite and high-Mg calcite respectively which are the first types of calcium carbonate to be affected by lowered pH. While we do not yet fully understand the future impacts of ocean acidification, it is becoming clear that many biogenic calcifiers display a complex interaction between global warming and ocean acidification which may accelerate the decline of the affected organism. The ecosystems created by marine calcifiers provide significant services; for example, global tropical coral reefs are estimated to provide goods and services worth up to £250bn, and when adding the services provided by cold-water calcifiers the figure is likely to be substantially higher. These goods and services include tourism, food, medicines, biodiversity, storm protection and even localised weather control. With these figures and roles in mind, recent moves to protect coral environments in the Chagos Marine Reserve and red coralline algae in the Lamlash Bay No Take Zone (Arran) will be crucial to the better understanding, and management, of future impacts associated with global warming and ocean acidification.

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Getting to the bottom of

Scotland’s fjords Martyn Stoker, British Geological Survey Over the last 500,000 years, glaciers have carved and shaped the stunning fjord landscape that characterises the west coast of Scotland. The North-West Highlands is one of the best places to view the effects of glacial erosion, from its spectacular mountain peaks and deep ice-sculpted corries to the U-shaped valleys and sea lochs. The special nature of this unique landscape has been acknowledged in its designation as a UNESCO ‘European Geopark’ (www. northwest-highlands-geopark.org. uk). Less well-known is the dramatic marine landscape that forms an integral component of the region’s natural heritage. Between 2005 and 2009, the British Geological Survey undertook a study of the fjord coastline in the Summer Isles region, west of Ullapool, including Loch Broom and Little Loch Broom; an area of about 200km2. Our main scientific objective was to initiate a primary marine geological survey of Scotland’s fjords which, somewhat surprisingly, have received relatively little attention in terms of their glacial history. In addition to the science, we wanted to raise awareness of the unseen marine landscape for socio-economic reasons. All marine activities, be they local aquaculture or fishing industries, or national infrastructure activities, such as cable laying, require information about the marine landscape and the processes that influence sea-bed habitats, in order to maintain a healthy ecosystem alongside human use of the marine environment. We mapped the seafloor using swath bathymetry and highresolution seismic-reflection profiling techniques, which transmit acoustic pulses that are reflected off the sea floor and subsea-floor layers. By interpreting these reflections, including their calibration with geological cores, a

fairly sophisticated picture of the sea floor and its underlying geology was established. This interpretation was further enhanced by the importation of the acoustic data into a 3D-visualization package that produced a digital terrain model of the marine landscape. A striking contrast was revealed. Shallow marine banks, less than 15-20m below present-day sea level, are juxtaposed with deeply incised fjord troughs, up to 180m deep, with steep sides, flat bottoms and undulating axial profiles. The troughs represent the offshore continuation of the modern sea lochs. The views from the mountain tops of Ben Mór Coigach and An Teallach are already impressive, but to appreciate the true size of the fjords in the Summer Isles region you’d have to add an additional 180m to the mountains’ height above present-day sea level. The shallow banks have a distinct ribbed appearance that reflects the preservation of a spectacular suite of about 40 sea-floor moraines, 5-15m high and 50-125m wide, which can be traced from the Summer Isles to Loch Broom. The preservation of these submarine landforms contrasts markedly with the much more subdued morphology (and common absence) of moraines onshore. These submarine moraines chart the decay of the last British ice sheet as it receded from the adjacent continental shelf, through the fjord system, and back towards the adjacent mountains. A combination of radiocarbon and cosmogenicisotope dating has indicated that the Summer Isles became ice free at about 14,000 years ago; that the glaciers had retreated to the Ullapool area by about 13,500 years ago; and that the fjord region was ice-free by about 13,000 years ago. Since the retreat of the glaciers, natural processes of weathering, erosion and slope readjustment

Perspective, colour-shaded view of seafloor looking west from Ullapool towards the Summer Isles. Shallow banks are white/ pink; deep troughs are blue/dark blue.

have continued to modify the fjords both above and below present-day sea level. On the mountainsides, scree and rockfalls provide recent evidence. Below water, similar features show up in our swath bathymetry data. Extensive slumping has scarred the submerged sides of the fjords. In Little Loch Broom, about 1.5km2 of the sea floor in the outer part of the loch has slid and been displaced. Whereas this event most likely occurred shortly after the retreat of the Little Loch Broom glacier, evidence of more recent slumping and mass failure, within inner Little Loch Broom, suggests that this area may still not have fully adjusted to nonglacial conditions. There is a growing cultural awareness that we need to monitor excessive pressures on our landscapes. To do this we must recognize that geology provides the geodiversity that underpins landscapes, habitats and biodiversity both above and below the waves. Around the Summer Isles, these landscapes are still evolving. Understanding geodiversity helps us establish whether the use and development of the coastal region can be sustained without adversely affecting the environment.

Submarine moraine ridges offshore Achiltibuie (location marked by cross on main image).

To find out more, please contact mss@bgs.ac.uk or 0131 650 0374.

Image below: Loch Broom.

Submarine landslide in Little Loch Broom (location marked by asterisk on main image).

Expert View: Seas & Coasts

STEP Forth:

a unique habitat creation and flood alleviation project on the Forth Toby Wilson, RSPB Scotland birds for which the area is designated. This project will dramatically improve the area for wildlife and create a safe feeding and breeding ground. Within a few months of the works starting, we are already seeing an impressive list of birds using the site, including curlew, shelduck, oystercatcher and at least two pairs of breeding lapwing.

The first high tide at Skinflats. © Dawn McAra (RSPB)

Artist’s impression and aerial plan of the site after the works. © RSPB

“...with easy access to the cities of central Scotland, this will give RSPB Scotland an ideal location to demonstrate this technique to Scotland’s land managers and decision makers.”

Work is almost complete on an exciting new project that aims to champion sustainable flood management on the Forth and re-create a rare and vanishing habitat for wildlife. In the Skinflats Tidal Exchange Project (STEP Forth), a pipe has been inserted into the seawall at the RSPB’s Skinflats reserve, allowing the Forth to flood what was previously an enclosed grass field. At low tide, water can be held back on the reserve by a sluice at the point of outflow. The water creates saline pools and should lead to saltmarsh colonisation of the field, benefiting many different types of birds, and wildlife such as otters. Gravel topped islands within the saline pools create safe nesting sites for birds. At the back of the site a new flood embankment contains the water on the reserve and ensures that no other properties or land will be affected. It is the first time the technique of Regulated Tidal Exchange (RTE) has been implemented in Scotland and is one of only a handful of examples in the UK. The location of the site, with easy access to the cities of central Scotland, will give RSPB Scotland an ideal location to demonstrate this technique to Scotland’s land managers and decision makers. It will allow us to engage on the important subjects of climate change, sea level rise and flooding, all of which will significantly impact

on both wildlife and people in the Central Belt. Although on a small scale, at about 10ha, it is hoped that the project will demonstrate the potential of an active flood management programme, whereby areas of undeveloped land can be used to hold flood water, alleviating pressures on built-up areas and building up the ground height via sedimentation. This is also the first step in realising RSPB Scotland’s exciting vision of an extensive wetland complex around the Forth. The site at Bothkennar, near the Kincardine Bridge, was an improved grassland field, once used to study the properties of clay. RSPB Scotland’s reserve boundary extends outwith the seawall onto an area of mudflats, which are internationally important for wintering ducks, geese and waders, and designated as the Firth of Forth Special Protection Area (SPA) and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) for these species. Wetland Bird Survey counts along the Inner Forth show that on average there were over 12,100 individual birds of 58 species present through the winter of 2008-09. However, the area faces many pressures from development and disturbance, and numbers of birds using the Firth have declined over the past 25 years. RSPB is keen to ensure that new habitat is created to help maintain the internationally important numbers of wintering

The project has not been without its teething problems. There has been some erosion around the pipe into the reserve, and changes to the design have been made to allow the system to be shut off if required. Following these works, we are confident that the scheme will be able to operate for decades to come with minimal maintenance and management. Monitoring the effects of the RTE is important, and we are working with Stirling University to examine the changes to the vegetation of the site following the inundation. From examples elsewhere, it is anticipated that saltmarsh will become properly established within three to five years. As the vegetation becomes established, it will help to stabilise the system and further strengthen the flood defences. Regular surveys will assess changes to the birds using the site. Other plans for the future include building a hide on the reserve, allowing people to get close-up views of the resident and visiting wildlife. We are also working with local schools to use the reserve as an area for outdoor learning. In terms of future site management, fencing will be erected as we anticipate a need to graze the field with cattle to help control plants such as thistle and ragwort and allow the saltmarsh to flourish. We believe the project will demonstrate how controlled flood management like this can have benefits for both people and wildlife and provide at least part of the answer to the problem of flooding in Scotland.

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Opinion On: Seas & Coasts

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Summer 2010

Global Warring

The geopolitics of the Northwest Passage Cleo Paskal Remember when that Russian submarine planted a titanium flag on the seabed at the North Pole? It was the summer of 2007, the same year the Arctic ice pack reached its historic minimum area. There was talk of a new Cold War (pun most definitely intended) in which the West would face off against a comfortably familiar opponent, Russia. Problem was, the flag planting wasn’t a declaration of war, it was a publicity stunt by a Russian explorer and parliamentarian, more for domestic consumption than to make an international point. The issue itself of who, if anyone, owns the North Pole (or, more to the point, the hydrocarbon rich seabed of the Arctic), already has mechanisms in place to resolve it peacefully. The five main Arctic coastal nations – Russia, United States, Canada, Denmark and Norway – have agreed to abide by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (the Convention) in determining seabed claims in the Arctic. The calculations of continental shelf claims are complex, incorporating thickness of sedimentary rock, slope, and myriad other geological factors. But the process is clear. What has been missing is detailed mapping of the Arctic seabed, which is currently underway. The seabed claims are likely to eventually be determined peacefully (though you can expect a few more publicity stunts along the way – especially around election time in Russia, Canada and the United States). However, there is another contentious aspect of an increasingly accessible Arctic that remains to be resolved. As the ice recedes, the mythic Northwest Passage, connecting the Pacific and Atlantic via the archipelagic islands of Northern Canada, is becoming a reality. Though first mapped in the mid19th century by Orkney Islander Dr John Rae (who also discovered, to his eventual dismay, what happened to the Franklin Expedition), it has

only been in the last few years that commercial ships have been able to make the trip without icebreaker escort. To show how far we’ve come, one recent cruise ship through the Passage carried another famous Scottish explorer, Billy Connolly. While the Passage is only a seasonal route, it can cut thousands of kilometres off shipping between Europe and Asia, and has no size limitations, unlike the Panama Canal. The question is, does anyone own it? The United States and others claim it is an international strait, allowing anyone to pass through at will. Canada claims it is internal waters, giving it jurisdiction to stop, search and seize vessels that it does not want to allow through, for example because they are an environmental risk or carrying weapons. The US position rests on two assertions. First, for it to be an international strait it must be an historic route through the area. On this point, the ghosts of the Franklin Expedition may beg to differ. Second is the ‘freedom of the seas’ doctrine. In a US context, freedom of the seas usually implies US domination of the seas. However, in the Arctic, the US is ill prepared to effectively deploy. The US icebreaker fleet is small, and in such a state of disrepair it had to hire a Russian icebreaker to get to a US research base in the Antarctic. Meanwhile, Russia is very comfortable operating in an Arctic environment. Its own Northern Sea Route is already relatively open, and it has well over a dozen icebreakers, many nuclear powered. There are also some very active newcomers in the Arctic. China, for example, sees a shortcut to markets and potential increased access to Arctic resources. China now has research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic, an icebreaker, large numbers of Chinese nationals working in Siberia (many in Arctic port towns), is an observer in the Arctic Council, and has been building ties to Canadian aboriginal communities, some of which control access to vast stores of Northern resources.

The North is a vast area, difficult to monitor in the best of circumstances. According to a US Navy document, Canada’s borders are already being tested, including by a “Chinese vessel armed with a number of machine guns and a passport that could not be accounted for, that arrived in an Inuvialuit community. An unknown foreign submarine was spotted in Cumberland Sound. An unannounced IL–76 (military transport plane) landed in Manitoba, picked up a helicopter, and returned to a site that intelligence sources say is a known Russian Mafia base.” While the seabed claims may sort themselves out, it is transit through the region that may eventually cause the biggest challenges. Ideally the US and others would back Canada’s claim, which would allow verification stations to be set up at the Bering Strait and eastern entry points to the Arctic (perhaps even in Scotland where it could double as a cargo hub linked into the European rail system). This would ensure that any vessels passing through were seaworthy, with skilled piloting, and not carrying anything dangerous or illegal. A century ago, the biggest concern about the Northwest Passage was finding a way through it. Now it may be controlling the flow.

Cleo Paskal is an Associate Fellow at Chatham House and the author of Global Warring: How Environmental, Economic, and Political Crises Will Redraw the World Map, which was published by Palgrave Macmillan earlier this year. Combining climate research and interviews with geopolitical strategists and military planners, Paskal identifies the environmental problems that are most likely to start wars, destroy economies and create failed states. Global Warring is a fascinating tour through our uncertain future and is essential to understanding tomorrow’s world.

On the Map

General Maczek’s Great Polish Map of Scotland Dave Peck

relief were based on existing half-inch Bartholomew maps. General Maczek died in 1994 aged 102 and is buried with comrades at Breda in Holland, another place where he exercised his military talents.

eneral Maczek’s Great Polish Map of Scotland lies behind Barony Castle Hotel, Eddleston, five miles north of Peebles. In the Second World War the house and grounds were used by Maczek’s Polish forces, and it appears that an outdoor map of Scotland was built to help to plan the defence of the Scottish coast. General Maczek had seen an outdoor map in Holland showing the waterways which had hindered the Polish advance, and he initiated the idea of constructing a similar map for the defence of Scotland. Little remains of this original map.

of a Polish ex-soldier who had

After the war the building returned to hotel use, but several years later it came into the hands

of the height of the hills, a five-

been billeted there. He was a great friend of the General, and he gave the Maczeks the use of a hotel suite, and set about restoring and enhancing some of the water features. In the 1970s the idea arose of building a second map as a permanent three-dimensional reminder of Scotland’s hospitality to Maczek’s compatriots. A group of Poles, notably Kazimierz Trafas who was a geographerplanner from Krakow, managed to complete the whole structure in only six or seven weeks. Engineering infrastructure was

It is difficult to appreciate the scale and visual impact of the Maczek map without visiting the site. It is about 70 metres across, in a pit about one metre deep. It gives an incredible visual representation of Scotland’s topography. Unfortunately the map has deteriorated over the years and is in urgent need of restoration. Some areas are virtually intact, but many of the islands have suffered badly. A local trust has been set up to carry out the restoration. We believe this is important work, not only because the map is of major military and historical significance, but also as an educational and recreational attraction, and as a testament to the dedication and skills of cartographers.

put in place to surround it by ‘sea’, into which water flowed from lochs and rivers. In order to get an effective representation times vertical exaggeration was incorporated. The outline and

Further details of the restoration trust can be obtained from the Secretary, Keith Burns, at mapascotland@gmail.com; further historical and technical details are available at www.makers.org. uk/place/Maczek

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Inside The RSGS

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Summer 2010

The Evacuation of St Kilda: Eighty Years On Dr Jeffrey C Stone FRSGS

n 29th August 2010, it will be 80 years since 14 women, 13 men and 15 children, the remaining inhabitants of St Kilda, boarded HMS Harebell and departed for Oban. The anniversary of the evacuation is an appropriate occasion to draw attention to a small collection of 22 black and white photographs of St Kilda, including some of the evacuation, held in the archives of the RSGS in Perth. The images in this collection are probably not all from one source. Three of them have been published (Campbell McCutcheon, St Kilda: A Journey to the End of the World, 2002) as part of a collection which has been dated to c1911. It was a passenger aboard the Hebrides, a vessel which made scheduled calls on St Kilda latterly, who took the photographs in that album, and the ship shown at anchor in Village Bay in the RSGS collection is the Hebrides, hence other images may well date from that same occasion. However, five of the slides are indexed and appear to show St Kildan possessions on the pier at Oban on 30th August 1930, immediately after evacuation, almost 20 years later. Another of the photographs was published many years ago as a postcard of Boreray and the Stacs. There is also a handdrawn cross-sectional diagram of the archipelago and a copy of Mathieson’s map of St Kilda (1928) in slide form, which suggests that the collection has been assembled, or at least used, as the basis of educational presentations. Several views have the effect of recording details of village structures and

the land adjacent, with the photographer either on the street or further away, and sometimes including inhabitants, also dogs. A ship’s tender from the Hebrides is seen close-up transporting passengers, whilst another appears to be landing passengers on the slabs to the east of the Manse, presumably because the tide was too low for landing against the short pier. The quality of the images is very variable. The anniversary will be marked by a conference of talks, discussions, exhibitions, music, films and social events, organised by The Islands Book Trust from 11th to 14th August 2010. The theme of the conference is the way in which the islands have been portrayed in literature over the centuries. There is a huge corpus of writing on St Kilda, but scarcely a word of it was written by St Kildans. The images which we all share are derived from the pens of visitors who perhaps had their own economic, political, religious, or other agendas. How much do we know from the literature about how the St Kildans viewed themselves and the outside world? How much of the influential writings of visitors such as Martin Martin in the late 17th century or Norman Heathcote in the late 19th century can be accepted at face value? How does the literature of St Kilda compare with other remote island communities? The conference will be held at Lionacleit School, Benbecula; for further information, contact Alayne Barton on 01851 820946 or alayne@theislandsbooktrust. com

Destination St Kilda From Oban to Skye and The Outer Hebrides edited by Mark Butterworth In 1885, Aberdeen photographers George Washington Wilson and Norman Macleod set out to travel through the Western Isles to St Kilda. They took many photographs along the way and their collection of pictures, From Oban to Skye and the Outer Hebrides, was shown in magic lantern lectures throughout Scotland. Individually hand coloured onto the glass plates, these images captured the Western Isles and their way of life in evocative detail. In 2004, Mark Butterworth purchased the set, complete with the original lecture notes. Published in this fascinating new book for the first time as a complete set, many of the images, particularly of St Kilda and its inhabitants, are iconic, well known among enthusiasts of Western Isles history. However, these contemporary hand coloured slides are rarely seen and present a new light on life in the Western Isles, produced fifty years before colour photography came to Scotland.

Education

Inspiring learning

1884

125th

Anniversary of RSGS 2009

Mike Robinson, John Swinney MSP and Barrie Brown discuss the importance of a good geographical education.

“Geography is unique as a discipline, bridging the gap between science, humanities and arts...”

The role of the RSGS is to inform and inspire people to want to know more about our planet, about how it works, and about the impact it has on us and we have on it. Whether it is to develop trade or scientific research or to explore our political and national identity, to celebrate human endeavour or to inspire solutions to the most current issues of the day, geography can help to make the connections between the planet, its places and the people who inhabit it. With arguably the greatest geological diversity of any country in the world, and a rich tradition of exploring and settling new lands, is it any wonder that Scotland has played such a strong and inspirational role in the development of geographical sciences? Over the years, the RSGS has inspired countless audiences by charting and celebrating the progression of human endeavour, often with first hand accounts from men and women who were giants in their field. These talks have given insights into the early travellers, academics and researchers; into the pioneering explorers of Africa; into the North and South Poles; into the oceans; into the highest and remotest mountains; and (with the visits of Helen Sharman and Neil Armstrong) into our solar system and space. I have always felt that it was entirely appropriate for a geographical society to celebrate the exploration of space – not just because it represents another pinnacle of human endeavour, or because the planets and moons share the same basic laws of geology, chemistry and physics as Earth, but because it marked a turning point in human understanding. Only when we finally

saw our world from space did the penny finally drop that the Earth is a complete and finite system. This has, after a generation, started to fundamentally shift the way we think. There is a growing understanding of the interdependence of people, and of course a greater understanding of the impacts of humanity on the earth systems – on biodiversity, on habitats, on the oceans, on the forests and soils, on the atmosphere and the ozone layer, and of course around climate change. Geography is unique as a discipline, bridging the gap between science, humanities and arts, and as a consequence it teaches us the art of joined up thinking like no other subject can. It has been said that using science to steer society is like driving using only the rear view mirror. Perhaps the arts are the way to best imagine all our future road choices, from the mundane to the outrageous. But if you want to make sense of it all and plan the safest route, you need a map. Geography and the earth sciences are essentially that map – they are the way of joining the dots between the physical and the human worlds. You can’t fully understand the way the world works if you don’t understand how people interact with it, and you can’t fully consider human activities and policies if you don’t also take account of the finite nature of resources and, as recent events have shown, the Earth’s own complex and powerful natural processes. So it is critical that geographical sciences are encouraged. They must not become the accidental victims of university funding cuts, or suffer from being constrained inappropriately, because they don’t

quite fit into the science or social science curriculum. Reading, writing and arithmetic are pure skills, but through geography we learn how to stitch them together. We have places and people to read about. We have journeys and issues to write about. We have subjects to do sums about, from populations to economics. And we can learn citizenship, social responsibility, the rule of consequences, and much of the background to some of the most defining issues of this century. Population, nationality, place, and migration. Sustainability, climate change, energy, flooding, and globalisation. Poverty, inequality, health, and access to diminishing resources like water, oil and food. These issues will define this century, unless short-termism leads to war over space or resources as we outgrow this small but fragile planet that we have inherited. But these vital issues are better understood and explored through a knowledge of geography and so the RSGS will continue, with your help I hope, to make the connections between people, places and the planet, for the decision makers of today and the citizens of tomorrow. If we want a healthier and a safer Scotland... a fairer and a wealthier Scotland… and a greener and a smarter Scotland..., and when we are faced with these very real global and national issues, shouldn’t we being do all we can to promote and support geographical science in all its various guises? My belief is that we can’t afford not to.

Mike Robinson RSGS Chief Executive An abbreviated version of a speech given at an event at Edinburgh Castle in May 2010.

The

Geographer River health in southern Africa The Universities of Glasgow and Aberdeen, in partnership with the University of Zambia, North-West University in South Africa, the University of Cape Town and the Kasanka Trust in Zambia, have been awarded €758,000 from the EU for research on river health and biodiversity in southern Africa. The project involves researching the most appropriate and effective biomonitoring procedures to assess river water quality, and working with river-basin communities to establish the nature and effectiveness of local indigenous water management methods and strategies and to develop a framework for future water quality management procedures in these rivers. Geographies of Missing People Adult missing people rarely make front page news, yet these events can devastate the lives of those affected and take up huge amounts of police time. This research project, led by Hester Parr, seeks to understand the realities involved in ‘going missing’, using the voices and opinions of the police, families and returned missing people themselves. This will be the first substantial UK study to incorporate the views of returned adult missing people (and their families) via faceto-face in-depth interviews, to get behind the news headlines, and to understand what is at stake for all involved. A research team from Glasgow Geographical and Earth Sciences, the Scottish Institute for Police Research (SIPR), and Grampian Police will work with the Metropolitan Police and the charity Missing People. See www.sipr.ac.uk for details.

University of Edinburgh Bolivia Widespread archaeological evidence of Pre-Columbian (pre-1492) earth-mounds throughout lowland, northern Bolivia (Llanos de Moxos) challenges the widely held notion of a virgin Amazon wilderness and raises the possibility that Pre-Columbian societies had a far greater impact upon Amazonian ecosystems than previously thought. Frank Mayle is leading a multi-disciplinary Leverhulme Trustfunded research project, combining palaeo-ecology, archaeology, and satellite remote-sensing, to determine the chronology of this earth-mound culture, its land-use, and ecological impacts and legacy.

Prestigious Prizes for GIS Students PhD student Catherine Schroder, who completed the Edinburgh Masters in GIS, won the ‘Best Paper by a Young Researcher’ at the GISRUK conference in London, for her paper about automated pedestrian wayfinding technology. At the AGI Scotland conference in Glasgow, Christopher Barber presented the prize-winning Latyourlife, a personal planning aid that seeks to incorporate a geographic context into a traditional time based calendar, which he developed with Amin Abdalla, Laura Mason and Dimitris Stratoulias. Launched in 1985, Edinburgh’s Masters Programme in GIS was the first of its type in the world and has, to date, produced 640 graduates who form a significant part of the global GIS industry. Noise from wind farms Dr Claire Haggett and Dr Michael Gallagher, both Human Geographers, are undertaking novel research on understanding the noise from wind farms. Their initial work has shown that people hear and experience the same noise from wind turbines very differently, regardless of aural ability. Some are able to easily ‘tune out’ the noise, but for others it becomes a daily nuisance, interfering with activities including sleep. Understanding the reasons why forms the next stage of this work. Ensuring better and more appropriate wind farm siting will become all the more important as the pressures to site wind farms nearer centres of population increases.

Open University Edinburgh Lecture The Open University in Scotland is co-hosting its Edinburgh Lecture this year with Friends of Riddles Court Edinburgh and the Saltire Society (Edinburgh). Professor Alberto Magnaghi, founder of the Italian Territorial School, Professor of Land Use Planning at the University of Florence, and author of The Urban Village: A Charter for Democracy and Sustainable Development in the City, will give a lecture at 6.30pm on Friday 1st October 2010 at the Hawthornden Lecture Theatre, National Galleries, Edinburgh. This lecture will be the first in the Edinburgh Lectures

2010 series, the theme of which is ‘Talking Cities’. Details can be found at www.edinburghlectures.org

University of Strathclyde Urban Change Professor Michael Pacione is directing a programme of research projects on monitoring and managing urban change. Two of the projects are designed to examine urban trends and urban policy challenges in cities of the global South; and sustainable urban development in East London with a focus on the area of the 2012 Olympic Games. The results of this work will be presented at the 2010 urban development forum hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences and Zhengzhou Municipal Government. Two other projects are being carried out by PhD students working under Professor Pacione’s supervision. The first is undertaking a critical analysis of poverty, disadvantage and urban policy in Govan, and the second is investigating community safety and quality of life in the ethnic minority community of East Pollokshields in Glasgow.

SAGES (Scottish Alliance for Geoscience, Environment & Society) Coastal Research Group Researchers from the Universities of Aberdeen, Dundee, St Andrews, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Macaulay Institute and SEPA met in Dundee in April to discuss coastal research in Scotland. The meeting was timely, with the recent publication of the Marine Bill and the increasing concern of climate change and effects on coastal evolution. The meeting aimed to create a coastal research group across Scotland’s universities. Current research amongst the group includes extreme storm impacts and boulder deposition, tsunami and storm sedimentation, coastal change modelling and tidal estuarine modelling, historical flood analyses and policy, geophysical survey of the near-intertidal areas, marine geochemistry, coastal zone assessments and heritage, a predictive tool for assessing morphological impact in coastal and transitional waters, and an impressive application of a Virtual Landscape Theatre. The group welcomes all researchers interested in the broad theme of coasts. Further information from Sue Dawson (s.dawson@dundee.ac.uk) and Alastair Dawson (a.dawson@ abdn.ac.uk).

University News

University of Glasgow

18-19

Summer 2010

Making Connections

RSGS Medals – a call for nominations

Scottish Geographical Medal

Tivy Education Medal

Shackleton Medal

Geddes Environment Medal

The RSGS’s prestigious Medals allow the Society to recognise and reward outstanding contributions made by individuals or organisations in a range of geographical fields. We are now inviting nominations for the 2010-11 Medals, as follows. Scottish Geographical Medal: the highest accolade, for conspicuous merit and a performance of world-wide repute. Coppock Research Medal: the highest research-specific award, for an outstanding contribution to geographical knowledge through research and publication. Livingstone Medal: for outstanding service of a humanitarian nature with a clear geographical dimension.

Tivy Education Medal: for exemplary, outstanding and inspirational teaching, educational policy or work in formal and informal educational arenas.

President’s Award: to recognise

Shackleton Medal: for leadership and citizenship in a geographical field, in particular in the fields and current themes of most concern to RSGS.

excellence in the assembly,

Geddes Environment Medal: for an outstanding contribution to conservation of the built or natural environment and the development of sustainability. Mungo Park Medal: for an outstanding contribution to geographical knowledge through exploration or adventure in potentially hazardous physical or social environments.

achievement and celebrate the impact of geographers’ work on wider society. Bartholomew Globe: for delivery or application of geographical information through cartography, GIS and related techniques. Nominations, marked “Medal Nominations” and including up to 250 words on why your nominee should be considered, can be sent by email for the attention of the Chief Executive to enquiries@rsgs. org, or by post to Chief Executive, RSGS, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU, to arrive by 31st August.

What Geography Means To Me

An insight into the life of a working geographer

Adrian Shaw

early 30 summers and long winters have passed since last I studied geography, at least in a formal academic setting. But being a geographer is something more than an academic study; it’s a bit of a life sentence, and the skills and insights it engenders remain with us. Geographers may lack the academic specialisation or intellectual elegance of some disciplines. Articles by geographers are rarely as incomprehensible as those that grace the pages of Nature by microbiologists or cosmologists; geographers do not employ the same exactitude of phrase as lawyers or philosophers; compared to historians we may feel a little lacking in depth or culture; compared to economists we may feel a little peripheral to the world of power and money. Maybe geography is not really an academic discipline at all, divided as it is between the worlds of natural and social science, but is rather a field of study.

But geography does have its Climate Change Officer, strengths. As jacks of all trades, Church of Scotland geographers have to master a variety of skills to make sense of the world. They must be able to read and write,

have a passing familiarity with numbers, be able to discern patterns hidden in tables of data, and present it all coherently, preferably with pictures. Above all, geographers like to get out, see the real world, get their boots muddy, and return home laden with images and ideas. These are useful skills and attributes for anybody trying to wrestle with the enormity of climate change and to present it to a public audience fed on media scepticism, confusion and hyperbole. The great American geographer Yi Fu Tuan pointed out, in a lecture at the University of Toronto where I was a student, how much geographers used photographs and illustrations, to a greater extent than almost any other discipline. Since that time we have entered the age of PowerPoint and multi-media, and now visual imagery is a more common currency in academic presentation than it was, but geographers still have a head start. We are used to presenting imagery of the natural and human world and can deploy it to great effect. When making a presentation on climate change and its consequences, pictures of the impact of tropical storms on coastal communities or images of a Pacific atoll that will disappear under rising sea levels

have a powerful impact, precisely as Yi Fu Tuan identified. Presenting this with the best current graphics from the Met Office or other reliable sources can help make a compelling case. We should relish this skill and use it with imagination but with care and honesty. Geography has its romance too. I was reminded of this when seeing the RSGS visitors book, signed by great explorers like HM Stanley, Edmund Hillary and Neil Armstrong, who touchingly put “Apollo11” after his name, in case we had forgotten. Images of the natural world, whether written or visual, have a resonance and a grandeur that elevates the spirits, as Wordsworth understood so well. This romance is essential to help us face the future. We need to build a new relationship with nature to provide for ourselves without being so dependent on carbon fuels. Climatologists with their supercomputers and economists with their equations are both essential but are not always inspiring; economics remains ‘the dismal science’. Geographers, with a sense of adventure and an understanding of the relationship between nature and humanity, are well placed to help. We can help people in Scotland take on the challenge of responding to climate change.

The

Geographer

Expert View: Seas & Coasts

20-21

Summer 2010

Green Islay range of scientific disciplines. The assessment includes sea mammal, fish and bird surveys along with studies of the seabed (benthic) ecology. Specialists are also required to carry out terrestrial habitat and archaeological surveys that are required at the potential cable landing points.

‘Sann an Ile ghorm an fheòir A rugadh mi’s a thogadh mi It’s in green Islay of the grass That I was born and raised (from the traditional Gaelic song ‘Sann an Ile)

Long before its reputation as a whisky producer, Islay was famous as the green island. With the increasing interest in renewable energy, Islay is once again set to become ‘Green Islay’. Islay has frequently been a pioneer for the testing of new renewable energy technology, and projects that utilise heat exchange, photovoltaics, wave and wind have all been developed on Islay: the community swimming pool in the Mactaggart Leisure Centre uses waste heat from the neighbouring Bowmore Distillery, roofing slates that incorporate photovoltaic solar panels were used in the development of Ionad Chaluim Chille Ìle, the Gaelic community centre, and the Port Mòr community centre is fully equipped with a wind turbine, solar thermal heating and a ground source heat pump. The Limpet Wave Station near Portnahaven has proved to be a successful testbed for wave technology and has been used as a prototype for the much larger Wave Power station that is planned for Siadar on Lewis. This tradition of green energy projects is set to continue with the proposal for a 10MW tidal energy array in the Sound of Islay. Scotland has over 25% over Europe’s tidal energy potential and some of the best locations

are around Islay. The project is being developed by ScottishPower Renewables with local support from Islay Energy Trust. The proposal consists of an array of ten 1MW tidal devices designed by Hammerfest Strøm. The devices, which look similar to onshore wind turbines built on a tripod, are 30m high to the tip of the blade. Placed in 50m of water they will be 20m below the surface and will therefore have no visual impact. By feathering their blades, the devices can capture energy from tidal flow in both directions. A 300kW version of this device has been tested at Kvalsund in Norway for over four years and is one of the most advanced in the world. Whilst there are many single tidal turbines under test, the deployment of an array of tidal devices at the Sound of Islay site is a significant milestone that would allow tidal energy to make a significant contribution to Scotland’s electricity supply portfolio. Compared to wind power, tidal is still in its infancy but whilst technically more challenging, tidal power is very predictable and as water has a much higher density than air, it is possible to capture more energy from a smaller size of turbine. The proposed ScottishPower Renewables project in the Sound of Islay could provide the equivalent of the electricity used by 5,000 homes. The project is currently undertaking a rigorous Environmental Impact Assessment. There is a lot to learn about the implementation of large-scale marine renewables and the work crosses a broad

The reason that the Sound of Islay is such a good energy resource also makes it an extremely challenging environment to work in. Water depth is over 50m and the tidal flow can be up to six knots. Despite these conditions, over 25km of seabed video footage has been captured allowing detailed assessment of the environmental and technical aspects of the project. The Sound of Islay Tidal Energy Project is being supported locally by the Islay Energy Trust, which is a community-owned charity whose main purpose is to generate financial and social benefits from renewable energy operations for the Islay community. The Trust has a fulltime project officer dedicated to the project; Andy Macdonald, Islay Energy Trust’s Tidal Energy Project Officer is working closely with ScottishPower Renewables to maximize the potential benefits of this project for Islay using local people and services wherever possible. Recognising that reduction in energy demand is an equally important activity as renewable generation, the Islay Energy Trust also promotes energy efficiency, and with funding from the Climate Challenge Fund, Lindy MacLellan, Islay Energy Trust’s Carbon Savings Project Officer is working to reduce Islay’s carbon footprint. With a population of only 3,500, Islay may be a small community, but it is taking big steps to a renewable energy future. Andrew Macdonald Islay Energy Trust www.islayenergytrust.org.uk

“The reason that the Sound of Islay is such a good energy resource also makes it an extremely challenging environment to work in.”

Book Club

Charles Warren

Charles Warren has recently published a completely revised and updated edition of his book Managing Scotland’s Environment, first published by Edinburgh University Press in 2002. Adopting a similar integrated approach to the first edition, it discusses many of the hottest current debates concerning land use and the environment – the future of farming, land reform, reintroducing lost predators, the various conflicts between game sport and conservation, and the implications of climate change. A major new chapter discusses the vociferous debates surrounding windfarms and electricity grid upgrades which have hogged the headlines (and letters pages) in recent years. Intended mainly for an undergraduate audience, it is written to be accessible to the interested layperson as well as to be useful for the specialist.

The Last Banana Dancing with the Watu Shelby Tucker

Shelby Tucker first went to East Africa in 1967, to visit his university friend Marios Ghikas who then farmed on the slopes of Kilimanjaro. Ghikas’ grandfather had been one of the first of many Greeks to settle in what was then German East Africa. Nyerere’s policy of ‘returning’ land to the watu (folk) destroyed this community, and Ghikas was one of only three to stay on. Anticipating nationalization, Ghikas invited Tucker to visit again in 1972, to help him spend “the last banana” of his “unremittable fortune”. Over 43 years, Tucker made 16 trips to sub-Saharan Africa. In The Last Banana he contrasts the moral force and fruits of the pioneer missionaries and explorers who brought Christianity to Africa with the triviality of modern travel and the surrealism of the ‘democracy’ expounded in Africa today.

On The Slow Train Twelve Great British Railway Journeys Michael Williams Never was the sadness of the end of an affair so poignantly expressed as in Flanders and Swann’s elegy The Slow Train. This lovely book takes the reader on the slow train to another era when travel meant more than hurrying from one place to the next, the journey meaning nothing but time lost in crowded carriages, condemned by broken timetables. It reconnects with that long-missed need to lift our heads from the daily grind and reflect that there are still places in Britain where we can stop and stare. It taps into many things – a love of railways, a love of history, a love of nostalgia – and is a paean to another age before milk churns, porters and cats on seats were replaced by security announcements and Burger King. These 12 spectacular journeys aim to help free us from what Baudelaire denounced as “the horrible burden of time”. Michael Williams, a veteran Fleet Street journalist who writes widely on railways for many publications, is Senior Lecturer in the School of Journalism, Media & Communication at the University of Central Lancashire. The Geographer recommends

52 Weekends by the Sea Brigid Benson and Craig Easton Feel the tingle of salty breezes on your skin and the drama of wide horizons where seabirds fly, experience the romance of sunset picnics in a Welsh landscape or the thrill of wild camping on a remote Scottish beach, enjoy the flavours of the freshest seafood in Seahouses or the luxury of a hideaway hotel in Crinan. In this beautifully presented book, writer Brigid Benson and award-winning photographer Craig Easton have created 52 inspiring weekends around the shores of Britain. Along with great adventures and people to meet, they have included special places to eat, drink and sleep, all carefully handpicked from their own experience. Some are simple affairs in extraordinary locations; others are offbeat, quirky and imaginative. Some are cheap and cheerful; others are treats well worth saving up for. See www.52hq.co.uk for news, special offers and inspirational ideas for great escapes all around Britain.

Reader Offer - save 30%

Offer ends 30th September 2010.

Readers of The Geographer can purchase 52 Weekends by the Sea for £13.29 (RRP £18.99), plus £2.99 p&p in the UK. Order now by using the special offer code ‘RSGS52’ when ordering online at www.rbooks.co.uk

You can help us to make connections between people, places & the planet by joining the RSGS. Please contact us at Lord John Murray House, 15-19 North Port, Perth, PH1 5LU, or visit www.rsgs.org

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Managing Scotland’s Environment