Scotland’s resilience to climate change impacts is closely linked to land use and ownership. Adaptation Scotland’s report Land Use and Climate Change Adaptation in Scotland: Insights examines this relationship to guide the development of evolving land and climate change policies and practices.

Land and climate change adaptation

Current level of global governmental actions and policies will lead to a warming of 2.7°C by the end of the century and will also continue to rise after that date (Climate Action Tracker, 2022). In Scotland, this would bring warmer temperatures in all seasons, wetter winters and drier summers, more extreme weather events such as flooding, and sea level rise. This, of course, has implications for the land: the ability of habitats and species to thrive, soil health, impacts for crops, livestock, and woodlands.

Fundamentally, we’re talking about the impact of climate change on the systems that sustain the lives of people and other creatures. Reducing emissions to slow down the pace of climate change is crucial, but adapting to its impacts is also important for the future of land as well as people’s and environmental health and wellbeing.

Our approach

Starting in Autumn 2022, Sniffer, in producing this report, reviewed existing research and media publications, and draft policies on land and climate adaptation and resilience. We then held 42 in-depth semi-structured online interviews. We designed the questions and the approach to the interviews in close collaboration with Scottish Government’s Adaptation Team and Scottish Land Commission.

We designed the engagement to include participants from those with the power to make decisions, to those who influence decision-making, to those mainly receiving information and typically having little to no influence. We also had a wide sectoral spread, with participants representing some of the largest community, public and private estates, key land and climate membership organisations and policy makers from different sectors; public, private, third sector, land owning and non-landowning groups.

The interviews explored the relationships between land management, land ownership and climate change, both now, and in the future, looking at how these may need to change to make sure everyone is resilient to climate change impacts. We used an inductive (emergent) approach to analyse the data, developing the themes as they emerged from the interviews.

Policy context

Scotland is now undergoing a period of significant policy change in relation to land use. There are emerging policies, such as new Land Reform Bill due to be laid in from of the Parliament by the end of 2023, forthcoming Agriculture Bill (which will set out the new agriculture support system post-CAP), Scottish Climate Change Adaptation Programme (which is the key adaptation policy in Scotland) as well as the related Just Transition Plan for Land Use and Agriculture that will all shape how the land is Scotland is owned and used.

The report offers a series of priorities to be considered in these policies as well as by organisations and groups involved in land use. These are intended to support policy development to ensure people and the environment in Scotland are adapting to the impacts of climate change.

Findings

The report itself offers a wealth of insights into how climate adaptation and net-zero approaches are perceived by various stakeholders, what are the current adaptation measures in land-use context and how existing policies and decision-making play a role in it. Based on these insights, we identified priorities for enhancing climate change adaptation, specifically in the context of changing land use and ownership in Scotland. These priorities and suggested focus areas will be of interest and relevant to the Scottish Government and others, such as membership organisations who work with land-based businesses and communities, estates, farmers, development trusts, who are involved in land-related work and decisions.

The priorities are presented under the three themes that echo the research findings and analysis:

• Priority 1: Improving knowledge and resources for adaptation
• Priority 2: Connecting climate and land-related policies’ intentions and delivery
• Priority 3: Working towards more fair and just decision-making in land use

Recognising the financial, safety and reputational consequences of extreme weather and climate change, FirstGroup UK Bus (Scotland) – together with ScotRail – participated in a pilot project run by Adaptation Scotland and backed by Scotland’s 2020 Climate Group. This case study shows how Adaptation Scotland helped FirstGroup to understand and start planning for long-term climate change.

Adaptation Scotland helped FirstGroup UK Bus (Scotland) to compile a record of weather events which had recently caused serious financial, safety and reputational consequences. Evidence was gathered from internal records, media reports and staff experiences.

Adaptation Scotland then helped FirstGroup UK Bus (Scotland) to visualise how current vulnerabilities might alter in light of projected climate change, and what threats and opportunities these pose to the business

The Adaptation Capability Framework identifies four capabilities that every public organisation will need to adapt to climate change, providing step by step tasks to guide your adaptation journey.

Public Sector Climate Adaptation Capability Framework Handbook

This handbook is an introduction to climate change adaptation for Scotland’s public sector. It provides an overview of the Climate Adaptation Capability Framework, which identifies four capabilities for a climate ready public sector. This booklet should be used alongside online Supporting Guidance which contains additional information about each task in the Framework.

New for 2025, the Handbook provides an overview of how the updated Public Sector Climate Adaptation Capability Framework can be used by any public sector organisation in Scotland to accelerate action on adaptation. It introduces the Framework, and outlines the four capabilities that an organisation will need to develop to progress adaptation.

Since publication of the first version of the Framework in 2019, more than 60 organisations have used the Framework to build their capabilities and benchmark their progress. We are proud that the Framework won the 2020 IEMA Sustainability Impact Award for Climate Resilience and Adaptation, and has gone on to inspire many similar adaptation capability approaches.

Adapting to climate change is not a standalone challenge – the actions that we take to adapt should deliver many benefits for society including addressing inequalities, supporting sustainable economic growth and nurturing a healthy natural environment. The Framework supports organisations to consider how adaptation support progress against wider societal outcomes and maximise co-benefits.

The public sector have a crucial leadership role to play in driving this response for a more climate resilient Scotland.

Gillian Martin MSP, Acting Cabinet Secretary for Net Zero and Energy

Starter Pack

Organisations getting started on adaptation may wish to start off by viewing the starter pack. The Starter Pack provides detailed guidance on the first stage tasks of the Framework. 

It is for professionals with limited prior knowledge of adaptation or for those working in organisations where adaptation work is in the very early stages.

It will also be useful for organisations that have progressed adaptation, to review and reflect on any steps they may need to revisit. Tasks and accompanying templates are provided to guide the initial adaptation actions needed to progress to the rest of the Adaptation Capability Framework.

An updated version of the Starter Pack will be published in March 2025, but the existing resource will still provide you with clear and actionable guidance on taking your first steps towards adaptation action in your organisation.

Benchmarking tool

New for 2025, the updated Public Sector Climate Adaptation Benchmarking Tool helps illustrate an organisation’s adaptation journey along the Public Sector Climate Adaptation Capability Framework. It should be used to provide a baseline assessment of your organisation’s current adaptation capabilities and how their development progresses over time. It highlights which capability areas the organisation is excelling at and others where more work may be needed. It can aid communication and engagement to show what your organisation is aiming for and the steps needed to get there.

The Benchmarking Tool aims to assess the adaptation progress of an organisation, not an individual employee, team or department. The tool, therefore, may need to be completed by a small group of colleagues initially, and then finalised through discussions with management and/or different departments.

This updated version of the tool aligns with the updated version of the Public Sector Climate Adaptation Capability Framework tasks, and also includes enhanced reporting features. It has also been optimised for screen readers, and has both red-amber-green and blue-scale colour options.

Improving river quality and reducing flood risk with the communities of the Eddleston Water in the Scottish Borders.

The Eddleston Water is a sub catchment of the River Tweed. It measures 69 square km. The main stream is 12km. Lying to the North of Peebles in the Scottish Borders, the Eddleston Water covers a large area of hill and improved grassland. The Eddleston Water Project aims to reduce flood risk and restore the Eddleston Water for the benefit of the local community and wildlife.

The project is a partnership initiative led by Tweed Forum, with the Scottish Government, SEPA and University of Dundee, and works with a range of other key partners, including landowners and the local community so that everyone can contribute ideas and follow the project’s progress.

Work to slow the flow and increase storage of flood waters is ongoing across the catchment, including using techniques such as:

1. Planting native woodland on floodplains and in hill cleuchs. The trees and coarse grass generated will help slow the surface flow rate which will help take the peak off the flood water.
2. Creating new water retention ponds to capture flood water. Re-meandering canalised ditches and watercourses will encourage a more natural watercourse ecosystem to develop.
3. Installing log-jams in the headwaters to slow down run-off. This will benefit water quality, wildlife and the fisheries.

Play video

This film includes more information about the work that is being carried out in the Eddleston Water catchment

For more information, see the project website here where there is also a progress report from 2021 available to download.

Skara Brae in the Heart of Neolithic Orkney World Heritage Site.

Historic Environment Scotland (HES) are tackling climate change and climate adaptation in several ways, from their internal operations to providing external support and guidance. This case study highlights some of the actions they are taking to protect the historic environment from the impacts of climate change, both now and into the future.

Building an evidence base to inform climate ready decision making for Scotland’s historic environment.

HES are responsible for the care and maintenance of 336 historic properties throughout Scotland. Many of these properties are situated in landscapes that are vulnerable to climate related natural hazards. Like much of Scotland’s historic environment, the properties often show an inherent resilience to Scotland’s wet climate, but climate change is creating new challenges that they were never designed to cope with.

In order to gain a more thorough understanding of natural hazard risk across the diverse and complex estate, HES worked in close partnership with the British Geological Survey and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency, to combine various natural hazard datasets into a Geographic Information System (GIS) database. This was then combined with spatial data from HES properties to assess the likelihood of various natural hazards occurring at those properties, see the case study here. A baseline assessment was produced that will allow a more informed approach to managing climate related risks to be taken.

The initial assessment allowed identifies 28 properties that are considered to be at very high risk from one or more of the natural hazards assessed. The next steps are to ground truth the initial desk based assessment update them with any in depth, site specific risks, before considering the landscapes beyond the boundaries of properties, the climate impacts on staff and visitor safety, site operations and internal collections, and to consider how UKCP18 data is incorporated.

‘Evaluating the climate change risks to the HES Estate has already improved our ability to prioritise and allocate resources more efficiently. A strategic evidence based approach to managing climate risk is helping us give our properties, and the wider historic environment, a fighting chance of weathering the challenges presented by climate change’

David Harkin, HES

New HES strategy – Our Past, Our Future

In June 2023, HES published a new strategy for the future of Scotland’s historic environment: Our Past, Our Future, which has at its heart the transition to net zero, resilient communities and places and a wellbeing economy.

The strategy, which builds on the previous strategy ‘Our Place in Time’, is intended to provide a roadmap for the next five years and highlights the sector’s shared ambition to make a responsible contribution to Scotland’s economy and use the historic environment to improve people’s wellbeing. It also has a strong focus on the transition to net zero alongside a forward-looking ambition to empower communities and build a wellbeing economy.

The strategy also sets out the goal of further retrofitting and putting Scotland’s traditional buildings back into use; estimates put these buildings at representing 19% of Scotland’s housing stock, 33% of retail space, and almost 50% of spaces used by the public sector.

Increasing skills for adapting and maintaining traditional buildings

In addition to assessing their own properties for exposure to natural and climatic hazards, Historic Environment Scotland is pioneering work to up-skill the public and professionals so Scotland is better able to adapt and maintain its traditional buildings from the impacts of climate change.

Changes in the climate, such as increased severe weather events, are already causing problems for many of Scotland’s traditional building and will continue to do so. However, these problems are also being made worse by poor maintenance. HES have been actively undertaking and enabling a range of activities and research to improve the quality and availability of skills and knowledge across the sector and beyond to future proof the historic environment, see the case study here.

See also the guidance document produced by HES, Edinburgh World Heritage and Edinburgh Adapts here:

Trialling new techniques to preserve historic structures

Many of Scotland’s iconic monuments survive as unroofed standing structures with open wallheads and exposed historic masonry. Increasing levels of rainfall and extreme weather events can lead to erosion of the historic fabric and loss of structural integrity through processes such as water penetration, increased freeze-thaw cycles and damaging plant colonisation.

HES have undertaken trials of ‘soft-capping’ techniques at a number of sites across the country, applying an impermeable clay layer beneath living vegetation on wallheads and roofs.

Carefully selected slow growing vegetation types are designed to reduce rainwater runoff and withstand extremes of weather, requiring minimal maintenance. The results are both visually acceptable and technically appropriate for protecting some of Scotland’s most vulnerable historic structures.

Protecting prehistoric remains

Severe coastal wind erosion has caused the collapse of the dune system which protected the Links of Noltland prehistoric settlement site on Westray, Orkney for thousands of years.

In response, HES initiated a programme of detailed assessment, survey, and targeted rescue excavations in 2006. This was followed by dune stabilisation works, including dune recharge, fitting biodegradable erosion resistant matting, planting and sand entrapment to protect the surviving archaeological remains for future generations.

Recent inspection confirms that these measures are working and that the area is being recolonised by vegetation. Many of Scotland’s most vulnerable archaeological sites and monuments are located on the coast and this project provides a model for the stabilisation of similar sites.

The building of the Queensferry Crossing provided an opportunity for Amey, who manage and maintain the crossing, to incorporate changes that will allow the bridge to be more resilient to severe weather conditions and a changing climate.

When Amey were appointed as operators of The Forth Road Bridge and Queensferry Crossing in 2015, they became the single company maintaining and managing the crossings of the Forth River. The construction of the new Queensferry Crossing was already underway at that time, however, Amey were able to bring in experience of other crossings, as well as learnings from recent closures on the Forth Road Bridge and put in place a number of systems to increase the capacity of both bridges to adapt to more severe weather conditions. These include signs to inform drivers of high wind speeds, changes to practices and guidance, new materials and innovative designs to the bridge itself.

Amey’s procedures over the years have moved from an approach where the roads must always remain open towards an approach that accepts, and communicates to the public, that travel will not always be possible during severe weather events. The construction of the new Queensferry Crossing has also provided an opportunity to incorporate changes that will allow the bridge to be more resilient to severe weather conditions and a changing climate, and therefore stay open when the Forth Road Bridge would have been closed.

These changes included using the latest and most durable materials, cables that can be replaced with more ease than on the Forth Road Bridge as it can be done as part of normal maintenance works without closing the bridge, a dehumidification system which reduces moisture and prevents corrosion, and thicker road surfacing which has a longer surface life and can be machine laid, making it easier to replace.

The biggest change incorporated into the new bridge was wind shielding which will make the crossing less susceptible to closure during high winds. Experience of other estuarial crossings, such as the Second Severn Crossing, shows that wind barriers provide a high degree of reliability against closure.

Between 2019 and 2022, Adaptation Scotland worked closely with the Outer Hebrides Community Planning Partnership’s Climate Change Working Group to support climate adaptation planning in the islands.

This project culminated in the publication of two reports:

• A Climate Rationale, setting out a shared understanding of the climate challenge in the Outer Hebrides, based on evidence gathered from member organisations of the Community Planning Partnership and local communities
• A Case for Action, outlining the Climate Change Working Group’s vision, purpose and priorities for action to adapt to climate impacts and improve climate resilience in the Outer Hebrides

These two reports have subsequently informed Comhairle nan Eilean Siar’s Climate Change Strategy.

This case study shares our experience of developing a pilot approach for using participatory mapping to gather lived experience and local knowledge of climate change impacts and community priorities for adaptation in North Uist. It is part of our wider work with partners in the Outer Hebrides.

It provides details of the approach taken, some of our key learning and recommendations for use in other locations and contexts. It also provides links to some of the tools and resources used.

Find out more about our work in the Outer Hebrides, or read our guide to running a similar mapping activity in your own community.

Scotland has seen a significant change in its climate over the last 50 years – on average our weather has become warmer and wetter and we have seen more extreme events. This trend is set to continue with impacts felt across all parts of society.

The amount of information on climate change risks and potential adaptation measures in Scotland is increasing – at the national level, within sectors, and for specific locations. However, it can be difficult to access the breadth of information and consider it in an integrated way.

The six places

The Climate-Ready Places resource takes six typical Scottish ‘places’ and identifies:

• the key climate change impacts and risks identified for Scotland; and
• the adaptation measures that could contribute to a climate ready (adapting) place.

The visuals

The visuals will be used to introduce adaptation to a broad audience – providing visual representation of climate impacts and a shared vision of ‘climate ready places’. They will be used to engage with specific audiences (e.g. planners or communities) to identify what they could contribute to achieving a ‘climate ready place’.

The adaptation ideas were gathered at a dynamic workshop that brought together people working on adaptation across Scotland and from many different sectors. The images used in the tool were drawn by professional illustrators as participants described the characteristics of each place, how climate impacts them, and how our adaptation responses would change that location.Adapting uplands

The resource can be used by anyone with an interest in exploring adaptation ideas, from planning professionals to school children, community groups to corporate business.

It is worth remembering that this resource is a collection of ideas – it is not descriptive, it is not a plan. There will be many more ways to get your own place climate ready.

The ideas for adaptation were gathered from a dynamic workshop with people working on adaptation across Scotland and in many different sectors. The discussions at this workshop were captured in images drawn as participants described the characteristics of each place, and then how climate impacts and our adaptation response would change that location. 

Funding

The project received additional funding from the Scottish Government, Scottish National Heritage and Historic Environment Scotland.

Downloadable resources

The Climate-Ready Places pictures and the expert information behind them are now available as downloadable resources for you to print off and use to start an adaptation conversation of your own.

Below you will find A3 printable versions of all six of our typical Scottish ‘places’, showing them as both unadapted and adapting areas. There are also Information Sheets for each of the six places, explaining the changes that have been made.

Printing note: To get the best out of these resources, we recommend printing the A3 posters single-sided. This allows them to be set down side by side, making it easier to see what has changed.

Lesson plans

Lesson plans for primary and secondary schools using Climate-Ready Places have been developed. These allow students to think about their place and different environments and how a changing climate might impact their place.