Social justice: community land, energy and forestry event SCIS @ENGAGE

A Social Justice Approach to Community Land, Energy and Forestry
 Monday, 29th April 2019, 10:00 am – 12:30 pm

Book here: https://www.engage.strath.ac.uk/event/597

Registration from 9:30 am
Venue: The Technology and Innovation Centre, University of Strathclyde

This event aims to evaluate the current policy and practice of land reform in line with aspirations of social justice and with particular focus on forestry and energy. Bringing together experienced land reform researchers, journalists and public representatives, with community organisations and energy, labour and law academics.

There will be talks from Andy Wightman, MSP, Lesley Riddoch, author; Peter Peacock, former MSP and land reform campaigner;  and  Angela Williams from the Knoydart Foundation and Director of Community Land Scotland.  Followed by panel and audience discussion with contributions from Tiffany Kane, Operations Manager, organiser and campaigner for Common Weal and Kathryn A. Burnett, School of Media, Culture and Society, University of the West of Scotland is Co-Director of the Scottish Centre for Island Studies<https://scotcis.wordpress.com/about/>.

The event is supported by Scottish Universities Insight Institute and is dedicated to the memory of John Booth of the Isle of Eigg renewable energy system. We are delighted to be joined by representatives from the island at the event

Who should attend?
We encourage all with an interest in land reform, community energy, forestry and tackling social inequality to attend.

This is an event that is open to the public.

Benefits of attending
This events brings together some of the most respected voices in Scottish Land reform along with community representatives and researchers who have been focusing on localised energy and forestry projects. This promises to be a provocative session that places the idea of social justice firmly at the centre the debate designed to inform future policy and practice.

Brian Garvey
Department of Work, Employment & Organisation
University of Strathclyde, Glasgow

Tel: 0141 548 3999
email: brian.garvey@strath.ac.uk

ENGAGE: Community Renewable Energy

Join colleagues from the University of Strathclyde,  Heriot Watt University and the University of the West of Scotland as they present research assessing community renewable energy potential in Scotland and Brazil.  The Scottish aspect of this  community partnership work was undertaken in 3 pilot sites across Scotland, including the isle of Eigg. If you would like to learn more about the Community Renewables Assessment Network  (contact: either brian.garvey@strath.ac.uk or paul.tuohy@strath.ac.uk) and for more information on this Engage University of Strathclyde event, please see below:

We are delighted to invite you to the Community Renewable Assessment Network event taking place during Engage with Strathclyde, on Tuesday 2nd May 2017, from 2pm to 4.30pm. Please pass on this invitation as appropriate.
This event will highlight work aimed at enhancing local social, economic and environmental benefits from Community Renewable Energy projects. This event introduces a new approach for the assessment of potentials for these projects and processes and tools for use by Community groups themselves and associated support organisations to support maximisation of Community benefits. Pilot deployments in Eigg, Kinlochleven and West Whitlawburn (Cambuslang) and rural settlements in Brazil will be presented.

Lunch and registration is available from 1pm, the program is:
2.00 Introductions, Kendra Briken, Kathryn Burnett Co-Chairs
2.10 Rationale for new assessment tool, Brian Garvey
2.30 Energy systems and the environment, Paul Tuohy, Elsa Joao, Russell Pepper with Eigg case study
2.50 Discussion and Break
3.20  Local economy and renewable energy, Scotland and Brazil, Mike Danson
3.35   Energy, health and wellbeing with Kinlochleven case study, Joanne Macfarlane
3.50   Future directions for new assessment tool 1: brownfield sites in Scotland, Richard Lord
4.00   Future directions for new assessment tool 2: agrarian reform settlements, Sao Paulo Brazil
4.15   Conclusion-community to community knowledge transfer, and discussion, Brian Garvey
There will be the opportunity to get involved in a Community Renewables Assessment Network going forward. The work so far has been funded by Scottish Universities Insight Institute, the ESRC Newton Fund and EPSRC.
Come along, learn new approaches, reflect on your own practice, share some of your knowledge and join the debate.
Registration and lunch / refreshments will be available from 1.00pm.
If you would like to attend this event, please register at: https://www.engage.strath.ac.uk/event/415
Please don’t hesitate to get in touch if you require any further information.
Best wishes
The Team

The Conversation: Professor Mike Danson “Learning from Eigg”

Professor Mike Danson in The Conversation on island resilience and human capital as exemplified by the community of Eigg.

“In March, after a short fieldwork trip to Eigg, I found myself stormbound for three days. Ferries only land every other day, so this enforced delay confirmed how vulnerable and yet resilient such communities are. That the people of Eigg can take such disruption in their stride is testimony to islanders’ resilience generally, but it also demonstrated the capacity to accommodate visitors, to ensure those living alone were kept warm, fed and well.”

“What was revealed was the rich human capital, the resourcefulness of the people of Eigg and the way in which the residents led by the Trust have grown into managing and developing this community. Work and incomes are critical to the survival of such communities, yet the islanders voted against a fish farm development in line with their Green Eigg eco-commitment.”

Read full article here: Danson, M 2017 What other communities can learn from this islander buy-out in Scotland’s Hebrides, The Conversation 7th April 2017

‘Renewable Energies’ SCIS @UWS at Island Dynamics Conference Unst, Shetland

Investing in Small Island Recovery:  Archipelagic Approaches to Sustainable Living

20 April 2012, North Unst Public Hall

Sustainable Development and Renewable Energies: Perceptions and Powers in Island Communities.

Paper by Geoff Whittam (University of the West of Scotland, Scotland), Kathryn A. Burnett (University of the West of Scotland, Scotland), and Mike Danson (University of the West of Scotland, Scotland)

This paper examines the development of renewable energy schemes in the islands of the north west of Scotland, and in particular explores the impacts of different forms of community, cooperative, corporate and private ownership and investment on the distribution of benefits to local people. Using asset management approaches to analyse how alternative ownership patterns of land and resources and of renewable energy initiatives may affect local communities, it seeks to identify the advantages and costs of pursuing different models of development based on these contrasting forms of ownership. Attention is also paid to how local communities engage with these debates and decisions by analysing the public discourse on proposed renewable schemes, with reference to digital broadcast, print, and new media forms. The paper therefore addresses three key issues: which renewables projects are chosen and how are they structured and managed; what revenue flows are generated and how are these distributed; and finally, in relation to the above, some comment on how ‘public’ perceptions are both constructed and managed across media forms in relation to renewable energy and island communities in Scotland.