![\"Wild](\"\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/wild.jpg\")
<\/a>Wild mountainous country on the Knoydart peninsula<\/p><\/div>The outcome will have far reaching implications for the land as well as the people of Scotland, and the MCofS believes that this needs to be at the forefront of discussions. <\/p>\n
The MCofS has set out five questions for both sides. It has done this because neither the Scottish Government\u2019s White Paper, Scotland\u2019s Future, nor anything the No camp has offered, gives convincing detail about the future for our threatened landscapes.<\/p>\n
David Gibson, MCofS Chief Officer, said: \u201cScotland\u2019s wild lands and mountains are fundamental to its historical, social and cultural identity and yet there has been precious little mention of them in this debate.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe biggest reason why visitors come to Scotland are the wild and unspoiled landscapes yet more are destroyed each year \u2013 a risk to wildlife, tourism and recreation. Successive governments have failed to create proper planning regulations at a national level to stop industrial-scale wind farms being built in sensitive areas of wild land and mountain landscape. <\/p>\n
\u201cWhile the Scottish Government says it wants to see enhanced protection in areas covered by the new SNH map of wild lands, this has no legal teeth and developers are already trying to undermine it. Where will Scotland be if its wild lands are ruined? We need clear answers from the Yes and No camps and a bold, positive vision for our mountains and wild lands.\u201d<\/p>\n
A test case is already available for both sides. Each could show their credentials by expressing clear opposition to the Talladh a Bheithe wind farm proposal for 24 turbines, each 125m tall, in Rannoch in an area covered by the Wild Land Map, in view of Schiehallion and the tourist route to Glencoe and the western highlands.<\/p>\n
Five questions for the Yes and No camps:<\/p>\n
1. Will Scotland’s wild mountain landscapes be safeguarded better by an independent Scotland or by remaining as part of the UK?
\n2. Some 91% of Scottish residents believe it important to retain wild places (Public Perceptions of Wild Place and Landscapes in Scotland, SNH, 2014).\u00a0Wild land in Scotland\u00a0fell\u00a0from\u00a041%\u00a0in 2002\u00a0to\u00a028%\u00a0in 2009 (SNH Natural Heritage Indicators) – a loss of a third in just\u00a0seven\u00a0years,\u00a0and the losses have continued. Will this decline be halted either as an independent country or as part of the UK?
\n3. How will independence, or remaining\u00a0within the UK, provide real protection against\u00a0industrial-scale developments\u00a0in\u00a0our most\u00a0sensitive landscapes?
\n4. Tourism is the largest employer in many of our remotest and most fragile communities; access to wild land is a key appeal of tourism businesses in these communities.\u00a0How will this lifeline industry be protected in an independent Scotland – or as part of the UK?
\n5. Are Scottish governments more likely to listen to the people, and less to developers and big business, in the planning system under independence or within the UK?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Mountaineering Council of Scotland has said that the debate around the referendum on Scottish Independence has so far shed little light on what is in store for the country’s remaining wild landscapes. The body – which represents Scotlands’ mountaineers and hillwalkers – has called on both sides in the referendum for answers about the future of our threatened wild lands and mountains. The outcome will have far reaching implications for the land as well as the people of Scotland, and the MCofS believes that this needs to be at the forefront of discussions. The MCofS has set out five…<\/span> <\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-conservation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11478","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11478"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11478\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11479,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11478\/revisions\/11479"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11478"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11478"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.walkhighlands.co.uk\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11478"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}