Uplands

Uplands

Uplands

View towards snowy hills at the RSPB Insh Marshes nature reserve

The RSPB has a long history of involvement with and in the UK's uplands, some of the UK's last great wild areas.

In a new document, The Uplands - Time to change?, we highlight the importance of the uplands across the UK and call for a wide-ranging debate on the future of our upland areas.

We want to hear your views

Please read the The Uplands - Time to change? today (it can be downloaded free from this page) and let us know what you think. You can e-mail your views to: uplands@rspb.org.uk

We look forward to hearing from you.

Benefits for people and wildlife

The UK uplands are the hills, valleys, moors and mountains that form a distinctive and beloved part of our countryside. Habitats range from pastures and hay meadows in the valley bottoms to more extensive areas of rough grass, heather moor, blanket bog, woodland and mountain summit. These habitats, shaped by altitude, latitude, soils and climate, have been influenced by man over thousands of years.

We believe that we need to find ways to ensure that the full potential of the uplands is recognised and delivered, that the people and wildlife that live there thrive, and that the uplands deliver environmental, economic and social benefits for the whole of the UK.

We feel that the great range of benefits, for people and the environment, which the uplands can deliver is insufficiently recognised, and at risk.

As a society, we need to be much clearer about what we want and need from the uplands, and how we support and sustain land use that delivers a wide range of public benefits.

We have identified a number of challenging questions that we think need to be addressed. We do not pretend to know the answers to all of these questions, but, we believe that if politicians, landowners, environmentalists, economists and anyone else who loves and understands the uplands work together, we could get a long way towards deciding what the uplands are for, and how to shape future uplands policies.

A vision for the uplands

The RSPB is currently developing a vision for our work in the uplands.  If you would like to find out more about our work in the uplands and would like to share your ideas, please get in touch. E-mail: uplands@rspb.org.uk

Contact

Pat Thompson
Uplands Conservation Officer
E-mail: uplands@rspb.org.uk

Last modified: 26 July 2007

Downloads

The Uplands - Time to change? (756Kb)
Uplands form 40% of the UK's land area. This short document aims to trigger a debate on the future of upland land use. What are the uplands for?