The Aberdeenshire Land Use Strategy Pilot ran from 2013-2015 and was a Scottish Government funded project focussing on issues of rural land use change. The Pilot aimed to: consider land use in an integrated way; guide decisions to optimise land use; and create an online tool to inform decisions about competing or conflicting land uses. The online mapping tool was developed, focussing specifically on woodland creation in Aberdeenshire in relation to six possible policy priorities: woodland expansion; prime land protection; reducing flood risk; improving water quality; woodland and landscape character; woodland and public access. The ecosystem services considered are: sediment export; carbon storage; and nitrogen retention. The tool allows users to map their own policy priorities and objectives and see how this effects ecosystem service provision. The tool can help planners to identify areas where land use change could deliver multiple benefits, and to explore the consequences of pursuing different policy goals.
Aberdeenshire Council, James Hutton Institute
Project specific. The provision of 3 priority ecosystem services were mapped: sediment export; carbon storage; nitrogen retention
Which ecosystem services were focused on?:
- Crops, livestock, fish
- Trees, standing vegetation, peat
- Carbon sequestration & storage
- Climate regulation
- Erosion control
- Hazard regulation
Aberdeenshire Land Use Strategy Pilot, Final Report, 2015
Online mapping tool, available at: http://rlup.hutton.ac.uk/rlup_tool.html
Aberdeenshire Council page, containing links to all documents, available at: https://www.aberdeenshire.gov.uk/environment/energy-conservation/aberdee...