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Rural land makes up 97 per cent of the country, accounts for one in every six jobs and generates over £17 billion a year for the economy.

Those key findings were among many to be found in new research published yesterday at Scotland's first-ever Land Use Summit.

The Summit will promote the development of Scotland's first integrated Land Use Strategy to help meet 21st century challenges such as food security, energy production and tackling climate change.

Rural Affairs Secretary Richard Lochhead said today's research shows that rural land delivers a 'huge range of benefits' including income and employment, maintaining strong and resilient communities, and generating food, fuel and energy.

The Rural Land Use Study also:

• Identifies the pressures likely to face Scotland in the short and longer-term, including the key importance of climate change
• Identifies the parts of Scotland in which those pressures are most likely to occur, with intermediate quality land under most pressure
• Gives examples of how land managers are successfully dealing with these competing demands
• Highlights the increasing involvement of communities in rural land use decisions
• Finds that information, training and skills development are crucial in ensuring rural Scotland will be equipped to meet fresh challenges

Addressing over 150 key stakeholders at the Summit in Inverness, Cabinet Secretary for Rural Affairs Richard Lochhead said:

"Our land and environment sustains businesses and jobs, supports families and communities and puts food on our plates.

"Yet, until now, we did not have evidence in the one place on the various, often conflicting pressures, on this resource. This will help determine how land can be managed to ensure that we not only gain from it but preserve it for future generations.

"While we need to save the planet, we also need to feed the planet. We must find new ways of ensuring our land delivers the best possible outcomes in terms of both food production and tackling global warming. We must achieve both aims whilst protecting and enhancing the environment.

"The willingness and enthusiasm shown by all sectors in contributing to this debate was highlighted in the research which showed that responsibility for the environment was as strong a motivating factor for land managers as economic success. Also highlighted was the importance attached to social and community concerns.

"Scotland is world renowned for its spirit of invention and innovation. Let's hope that today's summit is the first step towards finding the technical and practical solutions needed to drive us forward towards a profitable and sustainable future."

Findings from the Study will help inform a wide range of policies, in particular the Land Use Strategy where Scotland is leading the way.

Environment Minister, Roseanna Cunningham, who closed the summit, said:

"Once again, Scotland has taken the lead in shaping European policy.

"Today will provide an important contribution to developing Scotland's first Land Use Strategy, which has been described as 'one of the most ambitious and exciting projects of its kind' by other European administrations.

"The Rural Land Use Study has been the beginning of a whole new way of thinking about rural land use which we will build on in developing our Land Use Strategy to ensure we meet the challenges of the future head on."

The Rural Land Use Study was launched on September 26 last year to examine the links between different types of land use and their competing demands. The Study has involved a wide range of stakeholders throughout the process, from the launch event, to advising on the research, through to discussion of the implications at the Summit.

The study was split into three separate research projects involving advisory groups, research teams and interviewees. The areas covered were:

• Realising the potential contributions of Scotland's rural land to delivering sustainable economic growth
• Changing land use in rural Scotland - drivers and decision- making
• The role of the public sector in realising the benefits of Scotland's rural land

The research involved the most comprehensive review ever of the wide range of benefits provided by Scotland's rural land and the future challenges generated by climate change, population movement and meeting food, energy and fuel needs.

Research findings are available from:

The Climate Change (Scotland) Act requires the Scottish Government to lay a Land Use Strategy before Parliament by March 2011, and to review it at intervals of no more than five years. All land, both urban and rural, falls within the scope of the strategy. However, Scotland's second National Planning Framework, published in June, sets out a long-term spatial strategy for development, and will provide the foundation for the urban and built environment component of the strategy.

The Rural Land Use Study and Summit will help inform further policy development including the Land Use Strategy, the Pack Inquiry on the Future of Agricultural Support for Scotland and further research.

The summit was held at the Drumossie Hotel in Inverness. It was attended by over 150 key stakeholders from all sectors involved in rural land use from academics to farmers and crofters, archaeologists to foresters.

Mr Rolf Linnenkamp, Head of the Climate Change Department, North Rhine- Westphalia Ministry of the Environment, stated following the Encore Symposium in Düsseldorf last month: "We were grateful that the Scottish Government was able to participate in the Encore Symposium in Düsseldorf. I was struck by their enthusiasm, and by their wish to develop a strategic, integrated adaptation framework. The Scottish Government's plan to develop a Land Use Strategy combining agriculture, forestry, biodiversity and transport infrastructure is one of the most ambitious and exciting projects we heard about at the Symposium."

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