WILD LANDSCAPES : UNDER THREAT?

ADVERTORIAL - WILD LANDSCAPES : UNDER THREAT?

The John Muir Trust has safeguarded wild land for 24 years. The Trust is looking for your support now to help meet urgent challenges to wild land from the impact of the current renewable energy policy in the UK.

Both nature and people are threatened by climate change, however, the John Muir Trust believes that precious wild land should not have to pay the price for renewable energy as a solution.

Join the John Muir Trust today and stand up for wild land

Under threat?

Wild landscapes of the UK are internationally renowned. These precious landscapes contribute greatly towards tourism, recreation, our health and education, and have played an important role in our cultural heritage.

“Industrial scale renewable energy developments are a major threat to rapidly diminishing wild land”, says Helen McDade, Policy Manager for the John Muir Trust. “Developments often damage peatlands which are Scotland’s equivalent to the rainforests in the way they hold carbon locked in the ground. The intrusion is not just the wind turbines and pylons, but includes the access roads, concrete bases and underground cables.”

Our mountain and moorland habitats, and the wildlife to which they are home, are unique in the world. With subsidies available to developers however, Scotland is facing increasing numbers of planning applications for large-scale, land-based, energy developments. As trusted guardians of wild land, the challenge for the John Muir Trust is to ensure that these schemes do not degrade Scotland’s wild landscapes.

See the John Muir Trust Wild Land Policy

What’s the alternative?

“Scotland needs effective policies to combat climate change”, says McDade. “Electricity represents less than a fifth of total UK energy demand. A focus on wind power distracts attention and resources from important issues such as energy conservation which could cut total energy consumption across all sectors by 40%.”

The Trust believes the need for pylons through wild areas would also be reduced by siting renewable energy schemes close to the majority of users, with large wind power developments on industrial brownfield sites.

In wild land areas, small scale renewable energy options sited adjacent to the communities benefiting from them are seen as the way forward. This should bring sustainable long-term jobs to local people, and will be of huge benefit in sustaining local communities.

See the John Muir Trust Renewable Energy Policy

With your support the John Muir Trust can continue to campaign for necessary changes in national landscape planning legislation, oppose inappropriate developments on wild land, work towards lending support to sensitively located community renewable energy projects, and invest in awareness-raising campaigns.