Parks can promote and protect rural culture

Cop26 actively promoted the culture, arts and knowledge of indigenous groups. National Parks can and should do the same for the 'indigenous' groups in Scotland.

Parks should promote and protect the day to day practices and behaviours that make our rural areas unique.
How people work, farm, live, school and socially interact are culturally important across all parts of Scotland. The language, music and art inspired by our countryside has equal value to that of any indigenous group in any other part of the world.

We need to ensure that the cultural attitudes of city centric decision makers are not forced upon the rural communities of our parks.

Why the contribution is important

Scottish Gov and all public sector groups have a responsibility to promote and protect the culture of our nation. Rural culture is an underfunded and poorly recognised part of our history.

We must accept that the countryside was shaped by people and they in turn were made unique but the land around them. Their stories are valuable and deserve active protection and promotion.

Other parts of Scotland have statues to commemorate lost industries, landscapes and ways of life. I would rather we took steps to preserve and develop rather than build more statues.

by NB on May 13, 2022 at 09:48AM

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Comments

  • Posted by lionelmcmillan May 13, 2022 at 12:51

    With all the new building housing wild life is get squeeze out of it natural habitat. We need to protect wildlife in it natural environment.

  • Posted by JeremyHW May 23, 2022 at 07:30

    While not the primary objective of national parks, rural culture is high up the list. It has to be treated with due consideration and sensitivity. There are various levels of this subject. There are many archaeological sites, some conspicuous such as the outlines of habitation before the clearances, others less so and requiring an academic approach to identification and interpretation. There are many old farm houses and at the top end of the social scale, what were elegant and imposing estate houses and mansions. Many of these are now mere ruins. There needs to be a policy of what is retained; what has historic importance and what has become unsightly and unsafe. In each case, HES needs to be involved. When we consider defensive structures, our castle are important, in any state, and are less ambiguous. There are of course other signs of human habitation with cultural significance too.
    When I was active with the AHSS we would be asked to consider planning applications and demolition applications of rural buildings, mainly farm buildings. That is fairly clear,but, but the preservation of at least some of the historic layout of the farm itself, from market gardens to ancient furrow systems is not. So much of this is being lost.
    The points above regarding new developments in rural areas are vey valid. We must however see national parks as extensive manageable entities. National planning policy will cover all other areas. National planning policy though has weak points regarding suitable recognition of valuable features when there is new development. National parks unfortunately cannot withstand some development too, but by contrast have management infrastructure that can handle this better along clearer lines of approach.
    Ultimately there will be some compromises as all this needs to balance today's human component - residents and tourists; forestry and farming. The purist approach to natural environment simply cannot be applied everywhere. The natural environment needs to be sustainable not just in itself, but viable economically too.

  • Posted by malcolmrdickson May 30, 2022 at 16:16

    It may be that some valuable aspects of rural life in a proposed area are being or might be subject to threat because of lack of protection and sustainability. In these circumstances a National Park can help protection, promotion and so sustainment of rural ways of life, eg by:

    • assisting and coordinating agricultural businesses, if requested, in maximising the impact of public money for public good and environmental stewardship (there is evidence that, in the UK, farmers who farm within National Parks receive proportionately greater shares of such subsidies than those who farm outside NP boundaries).
    • promoting and supporting the training of young working age residents in rural trades and crafts
    • working with landowners to support and benefit from such training
    • encouraging civic festival organisers to use their annually selected principals to champion locally produced food and drink, traditional industries like textiles and woollens, and artistic endeavour).
    • promoting and supporting environmentally friendly schemes that reduce carbon consumption without creating an industrial landscape (eg micro-hydro schemes, farm-scale wind turbines, community bio-mass energy production).

  • Posted by Hundalee June 05, 2022 at 19:31

    Increased visitor numbers means increased opportunity to showcase rural culture - music, dance, song, art, story- telling. Appreciating and protecting the local landscape is not separate from encouraging and protecting how people interpret the area in which they live culturally.
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