2024 Annual Conference: Own Yersel Scotland

Own Yersel Scotland: Reimagining the future took place on 10 & 11 May 2024. The conference invited participants to imagine the future they want to see for community landownership and land reform in Scotland. Our members are world-leading, creative and hard-working, but the journey towards and beyond ownership can be full of unnecessary hurdles. In this historic year for community ownership, we wanted to hear your ideas about creating a legislative, funding and policy environment that genuinely enables and achieves change.

The conference was split into two distinct parts. The first day will have a traditional conference structure, with opportunities to learn from other community landowners.

On the second day, we looked at how we can create that supportive environment. Attendees picked their own sessions and build on all the conversations that have developed on the first day – from ideas raised at the plenary sessions and workshops, to the impromptu conversations that have happened over coffee or in passing.

Following these break-out sessions, delegates reconvened for a plenary session that tied together discussions over the two days and shared the ideas and actions that delegates have developed.

Outcomes

We have published a declaration from all the information shared at the conference, which Community Land Scotland will use to create change in the policy and support environment.

Following on from the conference, Atenchong Talleh Nkobou from the Royal Agricultural University & our Policy Manager Josh Doble published a reflection on our 2024 conference, the history of Scottish land reform and Scotland’s place within the global movement for land rights.