MAP Position Note (Rural Scotland & River Dee Catchment , UK) - Empowering rural areas in multi-level governance processes

The governance of rural areas in Scotland is multi-level, across topic and types of territories, and specific by topics and places. Some functions may not be within the formal remit of a structure, instead managed by another grouping under a shared understanding or informal agreement (e.g. waste recovery from public spaces undertaken through citizen initiatives). The combination of structures leads to a complex governance landscape comprising arrangements with, for example, different forms of: i) legal standing (e.g. statutory body, private business, community trust, voluntary organisation, designation); ii) functions (e.g. regulatory, administrative, strategic planning, operational processes); iii) modes of operation (e.g. actions on the ground; networking; sharing knowledge and plans); iv) resourcing (e.g. publicly funded, commercial income, donations, membership fees); v) staffing (e.g. elected members, appointed members, employees, volunteers); vi) territorial coverage (e.g. water catchment, National Park area, Biosphere); vii) ownership (e.g. owned outright, tenanted); and viii) remit (e.g. deer management, habitat protection, economic development).