Landscapes and Livelihoods
Thursday 12th May 2022 – 6pm-9pm
Landscapes and Livelihoods How do you approach nature recovery in a living, working National Park?
Gordon Buchanan will chair a panel discussion to launch the Cairngorms Nature BIG Weekend 2022. The event will bring together a range of voices for an open, honest and meaningful discussion on the key themes and challenges facing the National Park, its residents, businesses and future.
Join us to celebrate the return of in-person events and a full-scale BIG Weekend. It will be a great opportunity to meet and mingle, put those burning questions to the panel and finish off with a canapé at our catered buffet.
Join Us
Boat of Garten Community Hall
Doors at 6pm, event begins at 6.30pm
Building is fully accessible with accessible toilets. Please contact the organiser in advance if you have any specific needs we can accommodate.
Free, but the Hall will be charging for drinks at the bar.
The Chair
Gordon Buchanan
After 30 years filming wild and wonderful creatures in remote areas of the planet, Gordon Buchanan has a reputation for relishing dangerous and tough assignments. He has taken part in challenging expeditions and adventures around the globe including South America, Asia, Africa, Papua New Guinea, Russia and Alaska, always with a view to raising awareness of the fragility of the world’s endangered species and habitats. In early 2022, Gordon went on tour around the UK to sold-out audiences with his latest show ‘30 Years In The Wild’ sharing with theatre-goers his life and path into presenting.
In 2018, Gordon presented ‘Animals with Cameras’ on BBC Two , a fresh perspective to film-making with specially designed on-board animal cameras to gain an unprecedented insight into their secret lives and help scientists better protect wildlife in the future. ‘Animals with Cameras’ returned with series 2 in 2021.
Gordon has presented the Family & Me series since it began in 2016 with Elephant Family & Me and has since presented Cheetah Family, Snow Cats and Me, Gorilla Family & Me, Snow Wolf Family & Me, Reindeer Family & Me as well as The Polar Bear Family & Me and The Bear Family & Me for which he received a Royal Television Society award for his presenting work.
The Panel
Grant Moir
Grant Moir joined the Cairngorms National Park Authority as Chief Executive in March 2013. He is a graduate of Aberdeen University and worked with the Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park Authority for seven years where he held the post of Director of Conservation and Visitor Experience. Prior to that he was in the Rural Affairs Department of the Scottish Executive. Grant hails from Perthshire.
Magnus Davidson
Magnus is a Research Associate with the University of the Highlands and Island’s Environmental Research Institute, based in Thurso, Scotland’s most northerly mainland town. A native of the Highlands his work focusses on setting out a new vision for 21st Century rural Scotland which works for both people and nature and reverses centuries of depopulation and ecological degradation. Adopting an eclectic research portfolio across energy, climate, land use, development, and conservation he pulls together a range of often conflicting views into a holistic vision for the Highlands and Islands which is rooted in the unique social and cultural traditions of the region. He is also a director of Community Land Scotland, a trustee of his local development trust, and was a founding member of Scotland’s 2050 Climate Group.
Sarah Robinson
Sarah Robinson is Director of Conservation for the Scottish Wildlife Trust leading the organisations wide variety of ecosystem and species conservation activities. She has a passion for wild places from urban green spaces to landscape scale initiatives. Her career has centred on ecology and conservation working for Research Institutes, Intergovernmental and Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs) including the British Antarctic Survey (2003-2006), the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland (2007-2017) and the North Atlantic Salmon Conservation Organisation, NASCO (2018-2019). She studied Zoology at the University of Aberdeen and went on to gain an MPhil in Polar Studies from the University of Cambridge.
Deirdre Stewart
Deirdre grew up south east of Inverness, on her parents farm, and daughter to a Forest Ranger. In an area dominated by large scale private and public ownership, she developed a fundamentally grass roots understanding of nature, land management, rural society and economics in upland Scotland.
Qualifying at University in Countryside Management, and later as a Chartered Surveyor, Deirdre worked for over twenty years in private sector land management across the Grampian region and is now Estate Manager for the Dalhousie Estates in Angus, representing a key area within the eastern range of the Cairngorm National Park. Her passions remain upland land management, wildlife and the sustainability of rural communities, helping shape land use policy and its delivery.
