Climate change in the Highlands and Islands

By Rosanna Crawford

"There they hoist us, to cry to th’ sea that roared to us, to sigh to th’ winds whose pity, sighing back again, did us but loving wrong." - Prospero

Over the past few winters, Scotland has been battered by increasingly frequent and severe storms. These storms tend to cause the most damage in the Highlands and Islands, an area in the north of Scotland almost the size of Belgium, which includes the islands of Shetland and Orkney and the Inner and Outer Hebrides. The most recent winter storms have damaged over 16 million trees and left people without power for days at a time, with the islands particularly vulnerable to power cuts and even food shortages.

The Highlands and Islands is the most sparsely populated area of the UK and struggles with issues like fuel poverty, lack of jobs and affordable housing, and increasing depopulation to towns and cities.  It’s a part of Scotland known for its stunning landscapes – lochs, mountains, glens, white sand beaches and miles of peatland, but it’s also rich in Gaelic culture, which tells the story of the people who have lived in the Highlands and Islands for hundreds of years.

It wasn’t always this way. Before the Clearances, which forced people from their homes and prompted drastic changes in land use, many Gaels practiced a transhumance system of land management all over the Highlands and Islands. The subsequent land use change throughout the 1800s has contributed to the ongoing reduction in biodiversity and local food production, and unequal land ownership.

To imagine a more climate resilient future in harmony with nature, Highlanders and Islanders are returning to the Gaelic concept of dùthchas, which emphasises the interconnectedness of land, people and culture. For inspiration you can look to the islands of Eigg and Gigha, both self-sufficient and community owned, putting sustainability and heritage at the heart of development.

Although we are beginning to feel the effects of climate change in the UK, it’s nothing compared to what people are experiencing in other parts of the world. In the Polynesian Islands, in India and Pakistan and the greater Horn of Africa, rising sea levels, flooding and droughts threaten peoples’ very existence. As the home of the Industrial Revolution, we need to consider our responsibility for the current climate crisis, alongside other European and North American countries. Working towards a Net Zero future that protects nature and vulnerable communities is not an option, but an absolute necessity.

Rosanna wrote this piece for the programme of the RSC’s new production of The Tempest.