BASC’s initiative on cultural recognition gains wider backing

As more organisations engage with the UK’s Living Heritage inventories, the groundwork that secured shooting’s admissibility within the UNESCO framework is beginning to bear fruit, writes Patrick O’Reilly.

BASC’s efforts to secure cultural recognition for shooting continue to gather momentum, with more organisations now engaging in the process. The recent submission by the Moorland Communities Trust, calling for upland grouse shooting and its associated conservation work to be recognised within the UK’s inventories of Living Heritage, is a valuable development.

It is encouraging to see wider participation in this national initiative, which offers an important opportunity to ensure that countryside traditions and the communities that sustain them are properly acknowledged as part of the UK’s cultural heritage.

Making the case for inclusion

Since 2024, when the UK ratified the UNESCO Convention on Intangible Cultural Heritage, BASC has been at the forefront of advocating for the cultural recognition of shooting disciplines and leading efforts to secure their inclusion within the UK’s Living Heritage framework.

That inclusion was not guaranteed.

There were initial concerns that shooting-related activities may be excluded before the process had properly begun. BASC has worked constructively and persistently to address those issues, successfully establishing that shooting traditions and associated countryside practices are legitimate subjects for submission and recognition alongside other treasured cultural activities.

Building evidence and sector support

Shooting has been a key contributor to livelihoods and landscapes in the UK. It would be a travesty if its living heritage did not feature in the living heritage process. From the outset, our priority has been to ensure that shooting and the conservation practices associated were treated fairly.

Despite early concerns that this might not be the case, through early and constructive engagement with those involved in managing the living heritage process and careful evidence-based dialogue, we have established that these longstanding rural traditions are admissible within the process.

Since then, we have engaged in an extensive process of dialogue with members, practitioners and organisations with similar interests in rural and sporting traditions, including the Royal Kennel Club, the Angling Trust and the Moorland Communities Trust. The aim has been to encourage wider understanding of our shared sporting and working landscapes, and broader recognition of their cultural significance.

Our approach has emphasised the importance of grass roots support and community consent at every stage. This has been delivered through a sustained programme of face-to-face dialogue, workshops and in-depth interviews. Our community has responded magnificently submitting formal and informal expressions of support, stories, mementoes and photographs.

The decision by other organisations to proceed with their own submissions confirms that this was the correct approach and that BASC’s effort to engage early, build the evidence base and reach out to other organisations will ensure that shooting’s cultural contribution will be well represented in this process.

Continuing the submissions

This latest submission complements the broader programme BASC has been developing since late 2024 across the breadth of shooting and conservation-related heritage.

We have already had a number of expressions of interest accepted and we’re now developing detailed submissions ahead of the next stage of the Living Heritage process, spanning gamekeeping, wildfowling, rough-shooting and deer stalking supported by robust evidence and community input.

BASC will continue to lead and support this work to ensure that sustainable shooting is properly understood and formally recognised within the UK’s Living Heritage framework.

To get involved or find out more, please contact patrick.o’reilly@basc.org.uk

Patrick O'Reilly

Patrick O’Reilly is BASC’s head of social science. His role includes working to improve recognition of shooting as an important part of cultural life and making the case for its inclusion in all four of the UK’s national living heritage lists.