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At home in the Scottish highlands

By Plateau Perspectives

October 17^th, 2020

Autumn 2020 | New Beginnings

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Life in the Highlands

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With our work often taking us abroad over the past couple decades, sometimes for months at a times, even the better part of some years -- first to Tibetan regions in China, followed by even lesser known high mountain areas in Central Asia (see here to read more about those challenges and adventures) -- the highlands of Scotland have nonetheless always been the long-term adopted home for Marion (left), a beautiful and welcoming region where she and her family spent months each year since the early 1970s.

And for us as a younger family, with her childhood home so kindly passed on to us just a few years after we married, this place also has become our own family's pied a terre, a place that has provided us with a much appreciated level of constancy over the years.

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Returning to Scotland this autumn, somewhat more permanently than on previous trips, this past month has proven to be memorable and full of emotion -- both missing friends we have left behind, yet also with a great many new experiences, renewed friendships, and the discovery or rediscovery of Scotland's spectacular social and ecological landscapes.

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Below is a photo essay from our past month in the Highlands.

Northern Scotland

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Lossiemouth

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Dornoch Beach

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Strathcarron

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Forest walks

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Croick area

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Crofting

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Looking to the future

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People and nature can co-exist well, when people's values include space for nature. As with many other resource-dependent communities around the world, crofters in the Highlands of Scotland are the primary custodians of the land and protectors of its unique biodiversity.

How they manage the land and wildlife matters. And their voices matter, in all aspects of conservation and sustainability.

Moving forward... considering the great diversity of local and regional actors interested in this extraordinary region, finding a 'common ground' to help build consensus is critically important. But local perspectives are especially relevant, shaped by close and deep interactions with the landscape.

The genuine appreciation and indeed love for nature and wildlife that we have seen amongst neighbours over the past several weeks has been most inspiring for us. They represent not only the past... but also the future. And while there is still much for us to learn, genuine partnerships are essential and the only way forward.

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Marc Foggin is a conservation biologist with 20+ years' experience in high mountain ecosystems of Western China and Central Asia, with special interests at the interface of conservation, sustainable development, and local communities and indigenous peoples.

Marc is the international director of the NGO Plateau Perspectives, research associate in the School of Public Policy and Global Affairs at University of British Columbia, as well as honorary member of the Indigenous & Community Conserved Areas Consortium. He also is a member of several expert groups such as the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA) and keen photographer of both human and natural landscapes (see here).

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For more information, you can also visit these sites:

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Footnotes

All photographs by Marc Foggin

FootNotes

All photographs by Marc Foggin

© 2026 Plateau Perspectives

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