Perspectives from Mountain Studies
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By Dr Rosalind Bryce, Director of the Centre for Mountain Studies
The Centre for Mountain Studies (CMS) at UHI was founded with the aim of understanding the unique socio-ecological dynamics of mountain systems and their communities. Engaging with the often contentious debates on upland land use in Scotland, CMS research has focused on land ownership and land reform, and the challenging balance of multiple land use objectives such as sporting, biodiversity conservation and habitat restoration. The ethos of CMS is to conduct research that draws on multiple values, knowledge systems, and academic disciplines, and to deliver outcomes that can be taken up in both policy and practice. Using participatory approaches and concepts that are widely relevant to a range of landscape and community contexts, our research often goes far beyond mountain systems. We are often asked why mountains matter.
Mountains represent complex systems for examining both biophysical and social dynamics at multiple scales. River catchments are considered a suitable scale for land use planning and management, where ecological processes can be tracked from summit to sea. The biological communities and integrity of upland soil systems influence downstream hydrology for example, with far-reaching implications for lowland communities and ecosystems. Upland woodland planting and peatland restoration can alleviate flood risk for those lowland communities. Mountains are considered the water towers of the world, and beacons of change in relation to the impact of climate change on processes such as glacier melt. Humboldt’s Tableau Physique (1807) was one of the early visualisations of the vertical stratification of plant life in the tropical Andes and beautifully captured key montane ecological principles in a single image.
Well managed and healthy riparian corridors, linking Highland and Lowland, enhance ecological connectivity allowing species to migrate and disperse.
The variable spatial scales of upland-lowland ecosystem processes raise questions for how ecosystem management and natural resources can be justly governed. Aside from water resources, claims to rights and access to upland and mountain areas for energy regeneration, mineral extraction and cultivation are highly contested. Mountains also host the beginnings and end of migrations, both human and non-human. Climate change is driving many species uphill as their niches creep inexorably towards the limits of habitability. Mountain systems encourage us to think in multiple dimensions; across spatial scales, both horizontal and vertical; furthermore it is difficult to imagine another landscape where the earth’s deep history is quite so evident. The integrative approach that aligns so well with mountain studies can be aptly captured by Aldo Leopold’s ‘thinking like a mountain’ concept which encourages us to seek balanced relationships between land and communities. Several of our recent projects have applied a relational framework that integrates multiple disciplines and encourages thinking on extended timescales.
CMS recently concluded an international project ‘Cultivate’, which examined how exploring cultural heritage can contribute to transitions towards more sustainably managed landscapes. The findings supported the importance of a place-based approach enriched by local knowledge and an understanding of the interplay of cultural narratives, alongside strong scientific principles to achieve land use that benefits people, nature and climate. Socio-ecological systems approaches were expanded to include approaches from the environmental humanities and heritage fields. CMS researchers are taking this further and considering how creative writing can capture the nuances of deer management debates and how historical writings can help us understand shifting baselines in our perceptions of the condition of the natural environment. While these approaches and principles are important for understanding our relationships with land in general, they are perhaps most clearly exposed on the sharp outer edges of human and wildlife existence which exist on mountains. I will leave you with a question: in aiming higher with our hopes and aspirations for Scotland, what new perspectives can mountain studies bring to our contested rural futures?
To find out more about the Centre for Mountain Studies see: Subject Areas - Centre for Mountain Studies
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This article originally appeared in The Royal Society of Edinburgh ReSourcE magazine here
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