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Framework
The future of British uplands has become increasingly important to both the policy and research debates in the UK, particularly as a consequence of the study Taskforce for the Hills (2001), the FMD outbreak in 2001 and the subsequent report of the Curry Commission (2002) and regional enquiries. . In the EU, a meeting in November 2002 in Brussels signified proactive thinking on the problems of mountains and upland areas and possible policy opportunities, and in the same month an international conference at Chambery examined the issues surrounding mountain protected areas. Equally, the agenda for sustainable mountain development has become a global issue with 2002 designated as the International Year of the Mountains by the UN General Assembly. Scientists and others in the UK have played an important part in the implementation of the IYM. This seminar series will build upon a number of conferences which have attempted to highlight these issues. For example in January 2002 the RGS/IBG Mountain Research Group convened sessions on mountain tourism and development at the RGS Annual Conference in Belfast. In November 2002 an international conference in Pitlochry examined conservation and management in mountains of Northern Europe, and the RGS held a special one-day meeting on the Future of the British Uplands involving a wide range of interested parties. In each case, not only was there a call for more research but also a recognition that existing initiatives were typically based on a rather narrow range of disciplines and are failing to grasp the need for an holistic appreciation of the issues to form the basis of appropriate policy agendas.
At the same time scholarship and basic research are at last catching up with the need to focus on upland environments not merely as a by-product of other concerns or as an otherwise marginal issue. Research on climate change, biodiversity and soil management is increasingly highlighting the importance of uplands both as a zone of particular sensitivity to environmental change and also as a major influence on lowland ecologies and economies (Burt 2001, Carling et al 2001, Thompson et al 2001, Werrity, 2002)). Upland populations are now being investigated not as isolated, marginal communities but important stakeholders in the future management of these areas (Price et al, 2002,Chenevix-Trench and Philip, 2001,Ibery 1998, Hutson and Keddie 1995). Consequently research is required to determine the appropriate forms of livelihood and best institutional framework in which people can flourish in these areas without long-term damage to the environment.
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