Outputs

Outputs from the Scotland's Land Reform Futures International Symposium

Reports 

• A summary report on the Scotland's Land Reform Futures International Symposium, including Symposium purpose and objectives, descriptions of presentations and speaker biographies, discussion of outcomes and feedback from participant.
• We have created a Storymap with highlights from the Symposium.
• A briefing note for the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD) +20, organized by the Government of Colombia for 24-28^th February, 2026: Lessons for global land reform processes: A briefing note from the Scotland’s Land Reform Futures International Symposium

Symposium Presentations

Presentation videos have been uploaded to a playlist on YouTube. Below you will find the presentation slides.

Day One

• Welcome – Prof. Deb Roberts, Deputy Chief Executive and Executive Director of Science, James Hutton Institute
• Overview of Scotland’s Land Reform Futures project and International Symposium  – Dr Ian Merrell and Dr Annie McKee

Session: Scottish Land Reform in a Global Context

• Scotland in global land reform context: an overview of key themes – Dr Fraser Sugden 
• Scotland in global land reform context: progressing community rights in a context of concentrated ownership – Megan MacInnes (Community Land Scotland)
• Thinking community land dynamics across continents: Bolivian native land titling and Scottish community land ownership – Dr Annabel Pinker and Dr Carey Doyle 
• Decolonising territory through land reform? Lessons from Bolivia’s Native Community Lands  – Dr Penelope Anthias 

Session: Monitoring change and evaluating impacts of land reform: Scottish and international experiences

• Land data transparency and analysis: Scotland – Dr Keith Matthews 
• Land data transparency and analysis: Kadaster – Jan Spijkerboer (Netherlands)
• The Financialisation of Scottish Land: Natural Capital and Forestry Investment in Scottish Land – Dr Ian Merrell (Scotland) 
• Growing land inequality: The case of Saskatchewan, Canada – Prof. Annette Desmarais and Dr André Magnan (Canada)
• Financial investment in farmland in Australia – Prof. Sarah-Ruth Sippel (Australia)

Session: Scotland’s contribution to ICARRD+20 

• Update on the International Conference on Agrarian Reform and Rural Development (ICARRD+20) and the Global Land Observatory – Dr Francesco Pierri
• Scotland’s contribution to ICARRD+20 – Olivia Oldham-Dorrington

Day Two

• Land Matching Services in Japan and Scotland: Comparative Experiences of Land Reform – Dr Yumi Isaka Kato
• Welcome – Prof. Lee-Ann Sutherland, Director of the International Land Use Study Centre, James Hutton Institute 

Session: How do alternative land governance models work in other countries? What are underlying legal, financial, social, cultural factors? 

• Lessons from the Netherlands and Flanders: Netherlands field trip – James MacKessack-Leitch and Catriona Mallows
• The California Land Equity Task Force: Can a legislative reform slow the trends of farmland consolidation in the heart of America’s breadbasket? – Dr Adam Calo
• The SAFER model – Dr Kirsteen Shields
• The SAFERs, an evolving and multiscale tool of the French farmland regulation – Dr Adrien Baysse-Lainé
• Alternative Agricultural Land Tenure Systems (ALTS) in Canada – Dr Jamie Baxter

Keynote: Land and land-based investment governance: international dimensions – Dr Lorenzo Cotula

Session: Achieving the public interest beyond landownership diversification 

• Just transformations to sustainability in Europe: Lessons from the Just Scapes project – Dr David Brown
• Revamping the council farm estate for the 21st century: lessons from Bremenda Isaf in Carmarthenshire, Wales – Alex Heffron
• Towards a democratic appropriation of public farmland: emerging debates and policy initiatives in Flanders – Dr Hans Vandermaelen