‘You always have to make a trade on conservation issues’
Film-maker on huge challenges facing global wildlife and tree-planting in his local uplands
Byron Pace’s work as a documentary film-maker has led him to Namibia to help relocate elephants, to board a whaling ship in Norway and to walk among tribes in Tanzania.
But his latest project is a little closer to home.
“I live on the edge of the uplands so wanted to try to focus on an area I had seen a rapid change in over the last five or six years,” he said. “I thought it was an interesting question to ask: What is the future of our uplands if they are changing so much? With all of the conversations around biodiversity loss and climate change mitigation, the uplands are an area of the UK that are being looked at to try to solve some of these problems. “
Joined by journalist friend Sarah Roberts, Byron speaks to more than 25 people who live and work in the uplands, from the Angus glens to areas of the Highlands and the west coast, for British Uplands Podcast.
Byron said: “It is an exploration of the future of our uplands where we take the listener on a journey with us. It’s the exact opposite of a studio podcast, it’s immersive. You’re in the field, you’re having these conversations with us. You’re in the kitchen cooking, chatting to a game chef. It’s so much more real for people listening.”
The podcast touches on some of the most debated and discussed topics surrounding climate change today, including tree planting, wind farm construction and peatland restoration.
Being based in Kirriemuir, Angus, Byron has always been passionate about the landscape that surrounds him. But he was shocked by how much of what he discovered while making the podcast was new to him.
One of the biggest surprises came with new research surrounding tree planting on peatlands.
“We all imagine that when you plant a tree it’s an amazing win for our efforts to curb climate change, because we understand broadly how the carbon cycle works,” explained Byron.
“But what was really surprising was the body of science that is now being established that shows if you’re planting trees on peatland, at any depth, it activates a lot of microbiology in the soil, releasing carbon.
“The moral of that story is that trees are awesome, but only in the right place. We have to be careful setting broad sweeping targets for tree planting.”
Even though the specific issues discussed in British Uplands Podcast are vastly different, parallels arose between his work making it and that which he has done around the world.
“We’re talking about nuances and complexities of managing our uplands here, and the difficult decisions we have to make,” said Byron.
“The film I am just finishing making now, Paid In Blood, was looking at an elephant relocation from Namibia to the Democratic Republic of the Congo. I think we have this perception globally that elephants are incredibly endangered, so if anyone had a surplus of elephants, there must be so many places they can go, but that’s not reality at all.
“Seeing something like that, you realise it’s the same thing. Conservation is hard and to make the right decision is almost impossible. You can only do the best you can with the information you have and you’re always making a trade.
“If you have big open uplands and you want to wood them, that’s fine. But also understand that you are changing something. If you put a forest in an area where curlews – one of our most endangered species – are nesting, there will be no curlews anymore. Because of how rapid all these changes are, I’m not sure that as a society we really understand the changes we are making.”
With a large proportion of society now living in urban areas, Byron said part of the challenge we face is encouraging people who don’t have access to the uplands to care about their protection.
He said: “We all rely on nature. Whether you live in the countryside or in a city, we all benefit from the ecosystems that surround us.
“For example, most of us in this country enjoy beautiful clean water from our taps. We pay for that through our taxes, but if we don’t have pristine uplands, where most of that water comes from, it costs the water companies more to process it. We will ultimately have to pay for that. Whether you realise it or not, we benefit from our uplands.”
Byron hopes the podcast will help either instil or nurture care for our environment, using the voices of people trying to keep the heart of the uplands beating.
“People who don’t spend a lot of time in or near the uplands can listen to understand what is happening on their doorstep,” he said. “Scotland is a tiny country, even if you live in the centre of Glasgow you are an hour or less from the kind of habitat and landscape we are discussing.
“It gives people a vehicle to talk about what they are doing with a hope that those listening are going to care about what is happening around them. The decisions that are made about our landscape affect everybody, but it’s difficult to know whether these decisions are good or bad if you don’t have the information.”