Dumfries & Galloway Council

The SCOTO COMMUNITY TOURISM GATHERING 2024!

Following the success of last year's inaugural Gathering in Kingussie, SCOTO look forward to welcoming you to their next national gathering on Thursday 29 February, at the Cairndale Hotel and Leisure Club and on Friday 1 March, for learning exchanges in and around Dumfries. Get ready for two days filled with inspiration, networking, and learning opportunities, all focused on 'pressing pause' and recalibrating tourism in Scotland to deliver for our communities and environment first.

Join the Galloway & Southern Ayrshire UNESCO Biosphere, Propagate and National Farmers Union Scotland for a knowledge-sharing event looking at how farming can be good for both the environment and the farm business.

The Galloway Glens Scheme is an initiative of Dumfries & Galloway Council’s Environment Team, funded by a range of partners including the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Over the last five years, the scheme has worked to ‘connect people to their heritage’, while boosting the local economy and supporting sustainable communities.

This in-person event forms part of the Scottish Government’s consultation on proposals for a new Human Rights Bill. The purpose of this event is to allow people to learn about the Scottish Government’s proposals and to tell us what they think to help inform how the Bill is developed.

Please join us in a community workshop and help us shape and inform our approach to the Land Use and Agriculture Just Transition. This in-person event will be held on Tuesday, 29th August at The Vaults Art Centre, Newton Stewart, DG8 6BT. The workshop aims to bring together community members who are passionate about or involved in our Land and or Agriculture as we seek to draw upon your lived experiences and knowledge as Scotland looks to transition to a more sustainable and equitable future.

This meeting focuses on how agroecology and research can be used to increase resource efficiency and stabilise yields, whilst promoting biodiversity and helping farmers meet NetZero. It will explore:

• The role that novel diets have in reducing greenhouse gas emissions with Professor John Newbold.

The aim of this event is to gather initial views on the Scottish Government’s proposals outlined in the consultation, “Delivering our Vision for Scottish Agriculture, Proposals for a new Agriculture Bill”.

Full programme

The South of Scotland is now one of the fastest growing areas for community ownership in Scotland and communities are purchasing a wide range of assets including shops, estates, forestry, harbours, community centres, business and retail space and land for housing – to name but a few.

Have your say on climate change!

Bracken can be a serious problem on hill grazings and marginal land. Without careful management, large areas can easily be overrun, which is bad news for everything from livestock to wild birds. Uncertainty about the future use of the traditional herbicidal spray Asulam has prompted people to look again at bracken control techniques, to strike a balance between productive agricultural land and the bird and insect species which depend upon bracken habitats.