Michael A B Boddington, Mark Griffiths, John Salmon and John D Young
ABSTRACT
This paper examines three very different types of land management in relation to the critical issue of sustainability. The opening section deals with the fundamental principles of sustainability and is followed by an examination of those principles in the context of three applied land management case studies. The first involves organic agriculture, the second is river restoration for amenity purposes and flood plain management, and the third concerns mineral extraction and after-use. These give rise to very different aspects of sustainability: the paper demonstrates how each involves different principles and each is valid in its own right. The case studies came out of a workshop, organised by the United Kingdom Technical and Professional Group of Commission 7 of FIG, and held in June 1997 on the Coleshill Estate, Oxfordshire, owned by the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty.
ABREGE
Cet exposé examine trois types d’exploitation des sols très différents en ce qui concerne la question critique de l’agriculture durable. La première partie traite des principes fondamentaux de l’agriculture durable et elle est suivie par une étude de ces principes dans le contexte de trois cas d’études appliqués dans le domaine de l’exploitation des sols. Le premier concerne l’agriculture biologique, le second la remise en état des rivières pour les loisirs et les sports ainsi que la gestion des zones inondables, et le troisième concerne l’extraction des minéraux, l’aménagement des sites et l’usage ultérieur. Ces études de cas font ressortir des aspects très différents de l’agriculture durable; l’exposÈ démontre comment chacun d’eux implique des principes différents et comment chacun est valable en soi. Les études de cas résultent d’un atelier de travail organisé par le Groupe Technique et Professionnel de la Commission 7 de la Fédération Internationale des Géomètres (FIG) du Royaume-Uni, qui a eu lieu en juin 1997 au domaine de Coleshill dans l’Oxfordshire, qui appartient au National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty (au Trust National des monuments historiques ou des sites naturels de beauté).
ZUSAMMENFASSUNG
Dieser Vortrag untersucht drei sehr verschiedene Arten von Landschaftspflege in Bezug auf die Schwierigkeiten beim Landschaftserhalt. Der Einführungsteil beschäftigt sich mit den fundamentalen Prinzipien der Landschaftserhaltung. Ihm folgt eine Untersuchung dieser Prinzipien am Beispiel von drei konkreten Fallstudien der Landschaftspflege. Die erste handelt von biologisch - dynamischer Landwirtschaft, die zweite von der Wiederherstellung eines Flusses für Freizeitszwecke und zur Überschwemmungsvorsorge, und die dritte betrifft die Gewinnung von Mineralien, die Rückerstattung des Geländes und deren Weiterverwendung. Diese Fallstudien führen zu sehr verschiedenen Aspekten der Landschafterhaltung: Der Bericht demonstriert, wie jede unterschiedliche Prinzipien involviert und wie jede aus eigenem Recht ihren eigenen Wert hat. Die Fallstudien waren das Ergebnis eines Workshops, der von der Technischen und Beruflichen Gruppe der Kommission 7 der Fédération Internationale des Géomètres (FIG) von Großbritannien organisiert und im Juni 1997 auf dem Coleshillbesitz in Oxfordshire durchgeführt worden war. Dieser gehört dem National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty (dem National Trust für Orte von historischem Interesse oder natürlicher Schönheit).
INTRODUCTION
The UK Technical and Professional Group (TPG) of FIG Commission VII determined to prepare for the Brighton Conference by concentrating on issues of long term sustainability in land management. To illustrate the issues, the TPG chose the Coleshill Estate, owned and managed by the National Trust for Places of historic Interest or Natural Beauty, where a tenant farmer operates a large organic farming enterprise, where the Trust has undertaken significant estate works to restore the natural environment, and nearby where there is one of the largest aggregate extraction activities in the UK.
This paper examines sustainable land management by reference to these three different aspects. First, it sets the context and criteria for the examination.
THE CONCEPT OF SUSTAINABILITY
Definitions
The concept of sustainability is complex. Brown (1981) was probably the first to define it in terms of human society as ‘A sustainable society is one that satisfies its needs without diminishing the prospects of future generations.’ In holistic terms, it infers that the long-term global worth must be maintained, whether that worth be defined in economic or environmental terms. Today, mankind is not satisfied with sustainability alone. We seek progress and progress implies change: desirable change is termed development. The idea of sustainable development was defined by the Brundtland Commission (1987) as:
‘…development that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.’
This contains the concepts of development, of needs and of inter-generational equity. It is an immediately appealing concept. There is not a person in the world who would not wish to ensure that her children are better placed than herself. The idea that we hand on, as a matter of course, a more impoverished world than that we inherited is intuitively abhorrent to all of us. But do we necessarily impoverish the world if, for example, we exhaust its stocks of fossil fuels? Much depends upon one’s view of sustainability and the importance of bequeathing to our children – all of them – a relatively unblemished set of natural resources as against a wide range of opportunities.
Unfashionably, we can also disaggregate the elements of sustainability. In environmental terms, for a system to be sustainable, it must exhibit two characteristics:
In human terms, it must contain two other characteristics:
Working in the World Bank, Serageldin (1995), Vice President, Environmentally Sustainable Development, has developed a valuation system for different types of capital. There are, he says, four different types of capital
Sustainability, says Serageldin, may be defined by reference to the mix of these different types of capital, and the substitutability between them: see Box 1.
Those who would demand that strong sustainability would never deplete anything are pushing the idea to an absurd level. Non-renewable resources - absurdly - could not be used at all; for renewables, only net annual growth rates could be harvested, in the form of the overmature portion of the stock.
Mapping Sustainable Development
Given that we understand the concept of sustainability, in what way can development be sustainable? Development implies progress. That is to say, by developing, we are in a preferable position tomorrow to that we occupy today. The progress normally assumed is economic progress. It is invariably the case that those concerned with politics or the economy state that the concepts of sustainability are easier to achieve in a rich economy and/or with a high rate of economic growth than otherwise.
Figure 1 The map of sustainable development
Figure 1 shows an interpretation of these ideas for different circumstances. Environmental sustainability is shown above the horizontal line and unsustainability below the line. Most high-income countries fall into the bottom right of the diagram, and low-income countries into the bottom left. The objective of good environmental management is to move nations, communities, companies, and households into the top right hand segment of the diagram
Beth (1995) reports on an FAO International Workshop on Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development that made an important contribution to the debate by determining that any one generation has only a responsibility in these matters as far as the next generation. The planning horizon for sustainability purposes is thus about 25 years: the present generation has an obligation to leave the next with at least as wide choice as this generation inherited, but has no right to pre-empt the following generation’s decisions.
Principles of Sustainable Management
How should we manage, then, in order to achieve sustainability? A distance learning course (Boddington, 1996) in environmental management from Wye College (London University) presents a set of major management principles which are fundamental to sound environmental management for sustainability:
Individuals have a codes by which they govern the conduct of their daily lives. But, in a civilised society, individuals are entitled to the protection of certain basic rights. They cannot, however, by virtue of their own actions alone ensure that these rights are observed and upheld. A higher level of authority is required for such a task. In short, state power in one form or another is necessary for rights to prevail. So too with the principles just outlined. Because they are concerned with creating a general framework in which problems of environmental management may be successfully tackled they can only be operationalised effectively at a supra-individual level. In addition, many of the environmental systems that require remedial or protective action are also found to be beyond the competence of the individual and the principles of environmental management relate to more macro levels.
This is not to say, however, that the individual has no role in environmental management: quite the contrary. As the anthropologist Margaret Mead said in the quotation now made famous ‘Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed people can change the Earth: indeed, it is the only thing that ever has’. It is the role of the empowerment principle to enthuse individuals at the local level so that they know that they can make a difference.
SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE IN PRACTICE ON THE COLESHILL ESTATE
The Farm
Step Farm at Faringdon in Oxfordshire is one of those rare large commercial organic units. It extends to 364 ha (900 acres) of which two thirds is rented from the National Trust Coleshill Estate. The Trust expects and demands a full commercial rent for the holding comparable to that paid by other farms on the Estate. The farm is managed by Pat and Daphne Saunders in partnership with their son Miles and operates an entirely organic system on heavy clay soils. In terms of farm enterprises, output is based on milk, beef, sheep, wheat, barley and oats. No niche or specialised crops are grown. The dairy is large even by UK standards with 220 Friesian milking cows. Dairy followers and beef stock account for another 250 head, in addition to 190 ewes. Arable cropping takes up 107 ha (264 acres). Employed full-time staff consist of a herdsman, stockwoman and two general farm workers.
The organic farming system was introduced in 1989.
Management
Perhaps the greatest obstacle to entry in the organic sector is that it requires a much more hands-on approach to management and attention to detail. Integrating all aspects of the farming system into a composite whole is at the centre of this approach. Mistakes once made can have long lasting effects and are often not quickly remedied. Above all it requires greater skill on the part of the manager. Knowledge is a principal feature of organic farming. It requires knowledge of a type not easily sub-contracted out, (as it can be on a conventional farm, such as to a chemical company’s weed-walker). As a result agricultural colleges are beginning to recognise this requirement for new management skills and to address it.
Organic farming does not mean low-tech farming as is clear from the approach at Step farm. Neither in practice does it mean the total conservation of all natural resources although many artificial inputs are completely eliminated. An almost full complement of modern farm machinery is still required and to a casual observer Step Farm appears no different to any other commercial unit in the district. It is weedier than the best but cleaner than the worst. The farm machinery still consumes non-renewable fossil fuels but in other parts of Europe, particularly Austria, a growing number of tractors now run on vegetable oils.
However, it would be a mistake to think that even an organic farm running machinery on bio-diesel is necessarily totally environment friendly. Poor timing and management of ploughing up organic pastures can lead to serious nitrate pollution of ground water. Research on other National Trust properties has shown that if attention is not paid to the wider aspects of land management (e.g. the extent and management of non-cultivated areas on the holding) organic farms may support even less biodiversity than their more conventional neighbours.
Only a handful of large scale (over 200 ha) lowland organic units currently operates in the United Kingdom and of these many are regarded by mainstream agriculture as being successful despite their system of farming, not because of it. In other words they are perceived as being operated by exceptional managers.
To some degree technical developments within organic husbandry leading to higher yields (e.g. the integration of nitrogen fixing leguminous plants within arable co-cropping systems using undersowing and other techniques) are likely to be in a position to counter potential falls in price premiums which could follow increased supply. It is inevitable that current yields in organic agriculture are often (though not always, particularly in the case of dairying) significantly behind those of high-input agriculture when almost the whole of our more recent agricultural research and development efforts have been exclusively focused on the latter.
A particular example of technical innovation at Step Farm is Pat Saunders’ design and manufacture of a mechanical wild oat weeder based on a modified rape swather. This allows wild oat populations to be kept to acceptable levels by removing them prior to harvest without the use of herbicides or the need for labour intensive hand weeding.
Financial results
No economic system is sustainable except it be financially viable. Enterprise margins for 1996 shown in Figure 2 suggest that the farm is able to comfortably exceed results from average performing non-organic units.
| ENTERPRISE | MEASURE | STEP FARM 1996 (£) |
1996 National AVERAGE (£) |
| Dairy | Margin over purchased feed/ha | 2,489 |
2,282 |
| Wheat (milling) | Gross margin/ha | 1,531 |
780 |
| Barley (feed) | Gross margin/ha | 917 |
660 |
| Oats (milling) | Gross margin/ha | 917 |
755 |
Figure 2 Comparison of enterprise margins at Step Farm with conventional averages (Nix, 1996)
All products are sold with an organic premium. In 1996 milling wheat achieved £220 per tonne (compare £115/tonne for non-organic) with a yield of 6.175 tonnes/ha as a first wheat after grass (average, 6.75t/ha for non-organic). Milk in 1996 was sold at an average of 27.81pence/litre, (24.5 p/l for non-organic). In 1997 milk prices generally fell substantially, but Step Farm still achieved a 6 pence/litre premium over non-organic milk. Average yield per cow in 1996 was 5950 litres with organic concentrate usage at 1.5 tonnes per cow.
Clearly the price premiums achieved by Step Farm have been a crucial component in the viability of the system and its ability to sustain the payment of a commercial rent to its landlords. It can be argued that a major expansion in UK organic acreage would presage a collapse in those prices. This seems unlikely in the near future. The UK currently imports 70% of its organic food from overseas and the organic market itself is expanding by 20-30% each year.
RIVER MANAGEMENT AND RESTORATION
Background
In many countries – and the UK has been no exception – it has been practice to straighten rivers (river training), to introduce flood-protection systems (bunds, levees, high-level cut-off ditches) and even to canalise rivers between concrete banks. These modifications to nature’s legacy have been seen as providing high input agricultural production with the precondition of security from flooding.
The River Cole, across the National Trust’s Estate, was no exception to this practice. In the past, this reach of the Cole had been straightened and impounded to support an ancient flour mill, but more recently enlarged to serve upstream urbanisation and intensive farming right up to the banksides. In consequence, there had been a considerable loss of natural river valley ecosystems that are acknowledged to be an important aspect of maintaining a healthy environment that can better cope with the complex pressures of modern day society.
The River Cole at Coleshill has been extensively modified for a variety of reasons over the past 900+ years. Initially a function of milling, the downstream section has been realigned, straightened, deepened and widened, more recently to safeguard agricultural production and for flood capacity. Above the mill the channel was realigned and impounded 200-300 years ago to form a mill leat with remnants left as over spill channels.
Now, there are second thoughts about the wisdom of these practices and the National Trust has been at the forefront of the reinstatement of former regimes. A two-kilometre-long reach of the river now represents best practice in managing rural riverside landscapes for people and for wildlife. This has been achieved following extensive modifications to demonstrate the techniques and benefits or river restoration. The achievement at Coleshill is not simply a river enhancement scheme, but a restoration project that involves the whole floodplain.
Thanks to the project (see Figure 3), the Cole now flows in newly excavated channels that are smaller and less straight. It meanders between new river cliffs and gravel beaches, tumbling over shallows, or gliding gently towards deeper pools. Winter floods can again deposit silts on meadows that have replaced fields of corn and rape. The sluices at the ancient mill have been refurbished to reintroduce high water levels in the upstream leat, helping to provide damp grasslands that will further add to the overall regeneration of ecological diversity. The total cost of these operations has been about £300,000, of which £150,000 were for works.
The changes should also help to improve water quality and check the progress of floodwater towards the Thames valley downstream. At the other end of the scale, it is already clear that low summer flows are far less problematic in the smaller, faster flowing, river than they were in the previously oversized channel.
Scheme Design
The Cole Project was led by the River Restoration Project in partnership with the EU LIFE programme and the Trust, the National Rivers’ Authority/Environment Agency, English Nature and the Countryside Commission. The project design was environmentally led,
Figure 3 Plan and Views of the River Cole Restoration
drawing on a team of up to 30 multidisciplinary, independent experts and partner-organisation staff. Community and user involvement was sought before, during and after design, promoting ownership of the project. The design was based on the principles drawn from year one of the comprehensive monitoring programme and catchment audit. A Project Board, representing each partner organisation, approved all design decisions.
Using the information from a geomorphological audit and catchment hydrology/hydraulics, a typical channel dimension was arrived at for a sustainable River Cole. Upstream of the mill it was decided to reinstate on the original course (from map and topographical evidence) using this channel dimension. Flows would be split via a bifurcation structure providing a sweetening flow in the retained mill leat. This new cut would join the remnant mill by-pass channel to avoid the mill weir. The increase in slope would provide energy to enable a more natural, self-sustaining flow regime to develop. Flooding onto the floodplain, with resultant improved storage, could resume. Due to the historical and landscape interest of the National Trust, an infilled meander loop in the now ponded mill leat was also reinstated.
Downstream of the mill and road bridge, the channel form and sinuosity previously identified was used in conjunction with the principle of retaining mature riverside trees on the new riverbank. These mature trees were perched 1 m above the bed of the old channel due to a recent (20 years) capital scheme to remove 1 m of clay from the river bed. This general bed lowering also served to reduce the water table in the adjacent floodplain, thus adding to the process of drying out of a Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) fritillary flood meadow, which subsequently lost its SSSI status.
As an achievable target, the restoration of bed level, water level and flood regime to that of 20 years ago was incorporated into the re-meandering across the old channel. This entailed excavating the new cut up to 1.2 m above the bed of the old channel. All spoil was placed in the old channel, but deep backwaters and wide shallow berms were left to increase habitat diversity.
Initial results show that restoration has had no detrimental effects on the more sensitive plant and invertebrate communities and that natural erosion and deposition processes are operating as expected. Plant re-colonisation in-stream and on the banks is slow.
Early Results
Mineral Land Management and Sustainability
The Cotswold Water Park
Nearby the National Trust’s Coleshill Estate is the Cotswold Water Park, one of the UK’s largest sources of sand and gravel, used in the construction industry. The Water Park itself extends to an area of about 7,800 ha, including active and former mineral workings, lakes and wildlife reserves, farmland and villages. The waterbodies are the product of over 50 years of mineral extraction in this are and now represent the largest complex of man-made lakes in Britain. The Workshop visited the Claydon Pike mineral workings, which extend to 277 ha of which 50% have been worked and restored to lakes. The estate is owned by Coln Gravel Company and managed by ARC. The visit allowed an assessment of how a major minerals producer is applying concepts of sustainability.
Often the main concern about mineral extraction is the scale of quarrying rather than quarrying itself. But scale can be advantageous. In the Water Park, numerous gravel pits are operating and producing raw materials for construction, concrete and concrete building blocks. As each gravel pit becomes worked out and its restoration is completed, in line with a preconceived strategy, the Park evolves into a regional centre and internationally renowned example of good practice in countryside management for water-based sport, recreation and tourism. The Park's wildlife habitat, managed to achieve maximum biodiversity, is not only of national importance but also of international importance for over-wintering wildfowl.
Mineral Extraction and Sustainability
The issue of mineral extraction raises a fundamental question. Can it ever be sustainable? The UK has no truly renewable mineral resources, such as Iceland's deposits of volcanic rock, so how can the word sustainability be attached to a depleting resource? But the UK minerals industry firmly believes that effective sustainable development, which meets the needs of the present generation without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs can be, and is being, achieved.
There are two ways of interpreting sustainability in mineral development.
The conservation view may be valid if applied to individual quarries but can lead to the imposition of undue restrictions in developing the resource. Moreover, some define the concept of sustainable development as no development: if this interpretation is upheld, it could lead to the prevention of any depletion of mineral resources, a position that would be highly detrimental to sustainable national economic development. Whilst the minerals industry must accept that conservation is important, it is equally important to recognise that the UK is not going to run out of minerals in a few years. The 1976 Steven's Report into mineral extraction in the UK identified 30,000 years of life of extractable aggregate minerals remaining in this country’s reserve.
Some minerals lie where people or important landscapes may be affected by its extraction. However, improvements in working and restoration techniques, noise and dust reduction and visual screening methods, and improving road and rail transport, enable exploitation to take place in more sensitive areas with few detrimental effects. Where a mineral reserve exists it is essential that it is fully utilised, worked efficiently, and put to uses appropriate to its quality.
It is also important to recognise that minerals are not actually consumed as a result of their use in the same way as, for example, oil. Essentially their properties do not change when they are used either in their raw state or converted into concrete or blocks. When structures become redundant the raw material can be largely reused. Recent legislation has encouraged the demolition industry to develop new techniques to reuse aggregate when it no longer serves its original purpose. These opportunities are now actively pursued.
Minerals and a Sustainable National Interest
Those entrusted with managing mineral resources during successive generations must – as they do - manage prudently and avoid wastage. But we must look beyond this simple view to consider the effect of mineral extraction in the broadest national interest. The key concepts of this view of sustainable minerals development are:
A buoyant minerals industry driven by a strong economy leads to environmental improvement. At the individual quarry or mine tremendous gains have been made over the last twenty years in reinstatement techniques, where the opportunities for nature conservation and habitat creation are immense. The application of these techniques were evident during our visit to Claydon Pike, where imaginative restoration is being undertaken to enhance the natural beauty of the man-made lakes and to provide an economic base to finance an ambitious nature conservation management programme.
New landscapes created after mineral extraction contain some of the finest examples of the way in which man borrows the land and, after utilising the natural resources, returns it to nature. The importance of quarrying in improving our environment is critical. More than 11% of our SSSIs are old quarries. Our rural environment, landscape and amenities would be much poorer if there were no quarrying.
The juxtaposition of mineral working within the cycle of economic development, providing raw materials to create, maintain and enhance the built environment, underpinning a sound economy and, through a changing, living landscape, replacing man's urbanisation with wildlife habitat and environmental enhancement is, when viewed in the national context, a prime example of sustainable development.
DISCUSSION
We have presented three very contrasting studies in sustainable land management. The first – organic agriculture – is the very essence of what many would regard as sustainability. The emphasis is on resource conserving, non-polluting production systems, generating a product that is valued and appreciated. As a result of this value and appreciation, premiums attach to output prices and these, allied to excellent and intelligent land management techniques, produce financial results that are clearly sustainable.
This example brings in many of the ten principles that we set out in the opening section of the paper. It is apparent that both the duty of care and the precautionary principle are in operation here, whereby agriculture is practised with techniques of conservation. The fact that all decisions about production techniques (albeit, following strict codes relevant to organic production) are made at the farm level, indicates the subsidiarity principle. Many would say that the spirit of stewardship traditionally associated with agriculture means that the principle of intergenerational equity is innate in farming; the more so in the case of organic farming.
The reinstatement of the River Cole is a remarkable example since, whilst it appears to fulfil the criteria of resource conservation, non-pollution and consensus building, it is difficult to see how it can expect to be financially viable – in the sense of paying back the capital invested in it. It is entirely possible that the value of agricultural output declined as a result of the scheme. The expenditure is entirely justified on the grounds of the amenity – both human and wildlife – that has resulted. In this regard, it is entirely in line with the objectives of organisations such as the National Trust and the Countryside Commission.
The manner in which the development was planned, by involving a broad constituency of representatives, leaned heavily on the principle of social learning and the subsequent consultation with members of the public has continued that and introduced the principles of empowerment and transparency.
The final case study, involving mineral extraction, is typically regarded as breaking all of the rules of sustainability. If we use up natural resources, through extraction, then that use cannot be sustainable. However, Serageldin (see Box 1) suggests that sensible sustainability allows some carefully planned and understood extraction of mineral resources provided the total stock of capital is not depleted but simply transformed into another resource or asset. The extraction of minerals is justified, here, on the grounds that their value in urban infrastructure, and other uses, compensates the loss of natural resources. Mineral extraction can be planned and executed so as not to pollute, and it is generally financially viable.
In returning mineral sites to water park and wildlife uses, the company is not only enhancing the environment, but also following the principle of polluter pays. In the eyes of many, the resultant land use is preferable to what existed originally.
Sustainable land management takes many forms, including certain activities that intuitively or initially might be seen as without its boundaries. Even management for minerals can be perfectly sustainable in societal terms if carried out responsibly and with a view to restoration and aftercare.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Beth, S (ed), 1996, Integration of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development Issues in Agricultural Policy, Morrilton AR, Winrock International
Boddington, M A B and Dixon, F, 1997, Principles and Methods in Environmental Management Wye College, based on the original course by Adrian Wood and Alan Pithkethley, edited by Paul Smith, Wye, The College
Brown, L, 1981, Building a Sustainable Society, New York, Norton
Serageldin, I, 1995, Sustainability and the Wealth of Nations: First Steps in an Ongoing Journey, Washington, Environmentally Sustainable Development, the World Bank
World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987, Our Common Future, (The Brundtland Report), Oxford, The University Press
BIOGRAPHICAL NOTES
Michael Boddington BScAg BScAgEcon AMIAgrE
An agriculturalist and agricultural economist, he worked at Wye College (London University) as a lecturer in economics, quantitative methods and countryside planning before establishing a consultancy practice in rural land use planning and development in 1972. He has become increasingly involved with environmental, community and humanitarian development work and with non-governmental organisations. He established or helped to establish the Global Action Plan in the UK, the Centre for Sustainable Industry, Local Initiative Support, Land Trusts Association, Henley Town Partnership, the Mine Victims Fund, and POWER The International Limb Project of which he is currently Chief Executive.
Mark Griffiths BSc FRICS FAAV
A Fellow of the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and of the Central Association of Agricultural Valuers, Mark Griffiths holds a degree in Rural Land Management from the University of Reading. He has practised as a Chartered Surveyor in Hampshire since 1983, specialising in estate management, valuation and rural planning consultancy. In recent years he has been involved in a number of rural consultancy projects in Central and Eastern Europe, including advisory work to the Governments of the Czech, Slovak and Russian republics. In 1996 he was appointed European Rural Policy Advisor to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors. He is the UK delegate to Commission 7 of FIG.
John Salmon FRICS MRTPI FIQ
A Chartered Surveyor and Chartered Town Planner, he has been actively involved in the management, planning and development of a broad range of property and natural resources, including minerals, tropical rainforest, tourism development and rural lands throughout his career. Having worked for the Zambian Government, and in the UK, he managed custom-held land in Fiji between 1979 and 1985, developing appropriate systems for sustainable rainforest management and a tourism development plan for the archipelago. Currently, he is director of a consultancy advising on mine and quarry management and development throughout the UK.
John Young BSc FRICS FAAV
After obtaining a degree in estate management, John Young qualified as a chartered surveyor whilst working for the UK Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food in Somerset, Dorset and the National Agricultural Centre. In 1978 he was appointed Vice Principal and Head of Estate Management at the Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester. In 1992 he became Agricultural Advisor to the National Trust, responsible providing advice on the management of the Trust’s agricultural estate and representing the Trust as a spokesman for agriculture and rural affairs. In 1997, he was made Head of Land Agency and Agriculture, adding responsibility for professional land agency to that of agriculture.