The Common Ground Forum promotes a more collaborative approach to upland deer management in Scotland, based on mutual respect and consensus building, working towards a vision of a greener, healthier and economically vibrant future. The Forum is a neutral platform which enables stakeholders to own and transform their relationships with others in order to build better foundations for long-lasting solutions.
The Forum was launched in October 2023 and grew out of a two-year project called Finding the Common Ground. This project involved about 100 people from different angles of the upland deer management sector in Scotland who came together in discussions facilitated by civic mediators Centre for Good Relations to work together in a new way for this sector. Those involved included private landowners and managers, deer stalkers, the Scottish Government and statutory agencies, environmental NGOs, academics, the agricultural sector, foresters and community trusts.
Building relationships
This work has helped to break down the long-standing disagreements and animosity about deer management practices, building up trust between stakeholders so that they could move forward together and start working towards better solutions. More than 120 individuals and 37 organisations have signed up to the Common Ground Accord which sets out the principles for respectful and constructive dialogue.
The funding from the Pebble Trust has provided vital support to the Forum during its critical establishment phase, allowing more outreach to groups of stakeholders and facilitating better engagement with the Scottish Government at a time when deer management policies and legislation are changing in response to the climate and biodiversity crises.
Through a series of workshops and events over the past year, the Forum has engaged with over 300 people from across the deer sector and related community and land management interests. After a phase of intense outreach from the Centre for Good Relations over 160 stalkers have attended three positive events to discuss the future of deer management in a changing world, organised by a small subgroup of the stalkers themselves. Feedback from these events has shown strong appetite for more in the future.
Changing policy and legislation
A parliamentary meeting was held in May to improve the awareness of politicians and civil servants of the role of land managers and rural skills in tackling the twin climate and biodiversity crises. This was followed up with the submission of a parliamentary motion about the Forum, which has been supported by 19 cross-party MSPs. 13 Forum members have undergone changemaker training on ‘Understanding Group Dynamics and Conflict’ provided by Centre for Good Relations, giving them the confidence and skills to support better engagement with their peers.
There is still much work to do, and the Common Ground Forum will continue to build upon its achievements so far, to embed a better way of collaborative working across the upland deer management sector.
Many thanks to Helen MacIntyre, Project Manager of The Common Ground Forum, for providing this month’s blog post.
