Scottish Canals

My name's John Hutt.

I am a boat skipper, casually employed by Scottish Canals to drive boats at the Falkirk Wheel.

Do you enjoy the job?

Yes, I do.

And to celebrate the occasion, the Canal Listening Project has been commissioned, which aims to gather the rich sounds of the Forth and Clyde and Union Canals, and I suppose also capture the stories of the people who interact with them.

I joined Ross McMillan from Scottish Canals and artist Andrew Brooks.

So what we've got here is a field recording kit.

It's got eight channels that can go into it, so I can have lots of different microphones.

This article was written by Julie Curry.

Scottish Canals is working with two globally renowned climate and heritage experts to assess the growing challenges posed by climate change to Scotland's network of canals.

The study is led by Professor Scott Herron, UNESCO Chairman on Climate Change Vulnerability of Natural and Cultural Heritage, and Dr. John Day, a Principal Research Fellow from Australia's James Cook University.

Both are internationally recognized for developing the Climate Vulnerability Index, or CBI, a tool that has now been widely used to rapidly assess the effects of climate change on World Heritage sites, such as the Great Barrier Reef and the old and new towns of Edinburgh.

To date, the CVI assessment process has focused on World Heritage sites across Europe, Africa, and Australasia.

This is the first time a full CVI assessment will be undertaken with a World Heritage location.

Their latest collaboration led by Scottish Canals and in partnership with other agencies, is bringing together the local community and representatives of public bodies in a series of discussions to examine the future implications of climate change for the Crinan Canal in Argyll and Butte.

From there, it is planned to widen the focus to the entire canal network across the Highlands and Lowlands.