Dr Carly Maynard and coastal communities
Photo credit: Carly Maynard
To contact Dr Carly Maynard: carly.maynard@sruc.ac.uk
Dr Carly Maynard is a lecturer in Environmental Management at Scotland’s Rural College (SRUC). She specialises in exploring the inter-connectivities between human and natural environments, with a focus on water, energy, and climate change.
In December 2024, Dr Carly Maynard and co-authors Hannah Grist, Kate Lamont, Alexa Green, David Conneely, and Jane Atterton produced a report for Scottish Government titled Community resilience to water-based risks: An analysis of the perceptions and actions of remote coastal communities.
It is a summary of Dr Carly Maynard’s interviews with case study participants from five coastal communities in Scotland:
Tiree
Luing
Tobermory
Skye
Knoydart
The participants shared the key issues related to water in their area (e.g. agricultural runoff; ageing water supply infrastructure; drought; lack of support for private water supplies) and actions they were already taking to address those concerns (e.g. using UV filters; engaging with water providers; raising awareness with visitors about consumption). The authors then identified cross-cutting themes across this data.
The authors concluded with recommendations on how coastal communities could be better supported, including:
“…There is a need for people to see that nationally-distributed messages (e.g. around conservative water use) are relevant to them, or, if the messages are not nationally relevant, for there to be place-based adaptability within those messages.
…There is a need for consistent communication between groups like community councils, planners, housing developers and service providers to ensure all have the correct information to best allow for resource planning.
…One of the ways that communities could support one another could be through sharing experiences and expertise in addressing similar problems.”
