For our part, Right to Roam as a campaign supports removal where access rights cannot be compatible with allowing highly vulnerable species of conservation concern to thrive. Think of places like salt marshes, seabird colonies and some beaches.
We could also go a step further as a society and agree to incorporate some of the areas that are excluded for their own purposes, such as collecting baseline data on what is and isn’t achieved in people’s absence.
Democracy
It is important that these projects are transparent and socially just; they cannot simply be an escape route to continue arbitrary exclusion through the back door. In fact, a non-arbitrary model is key to these projects being recognized as legitimate, and it goes far beyond “no trespassing” signs to enforce compliance with legitimate restrictions and rules.
But I don’t think we should accept the negative view of access that the authors present. We have become so accustomed to seeing people’s presence on the land as a problem to be managed, rather than an asset to be embraced.
In Britain, such ideas boast a long and questionable history and have been used over the centuries to justify the extinction of common rights or to preserve the aristocratic games.
Then, in the early 20th century, preservationists developed their own snobby hierarchical morality, lamented the reinflux of commoners into the countryside, coined bizarre phrases like “baths of insubordination,” and called for the “prosecution of the rabble.”
As one person succinctly summed it up in the 1930s, shortly after voting rights were expanded: “The only way to save the countryside for democracy is to not bring democracy to the countryside.”
Critics
Today, these arguments are often couched in conservationist terms (is there a gamekeeper who hasn’t now rebranded, falsely or not, as a “practicing conservationist”?), but the roots are much the same. Then, and now, these narratives have proven to be a convenient distraction from the real causes of ecosystem loss.
A question from Lloyd others I wonder what Dartmoor’s last Curlews think about the annual Easter “invasion of tourists”, as if this has anything to do with their rapid decline.
A look at the fate of the Irish curlew shows that its population 98 decrease Over the past 30 years, there has been a percentage increase in countries that have no right to roam, no equivalent to CRoW legislation, and even no proper right-of-way network.
These factors are largely the same as those causing the decline of curlews in the UK – silage harvesting, commercial forestry development which destroys habitat and encourages the proliferation of predators, and the drainage of marshes and bogs – and have little to do with the occasional walker.
OK, but can humans (and in most cases, humans means dogs) make a bad situation worse? Here we find common ground between access campaigners and their critics.
ecosystem
We do not believe that all access rights should be extended to pets. Intervention in dog breeding and related industries has long been necessary, for the sake of both wild and domestic animals.
As far as I know, roaming rights activists were actually the pioneers of this issue. A comprehensive set of measures We believe that access reform should always be accompanied by [full list:Â here].
For those who want the former without the latter, that’s fine, but how do we get there? Weaving specific, sensible restrictions into general rights extensions is a way to motivate politicians and offset the political risks. Strong proposals for access reform could be just the tool needed for such legislation.
It is difficult to understand why the status quo is so acceptable to those concerned about the impacts of access, which are already straining public access as well as nature reserves: over half of all currently accessible land (accounting for around 8% of England’s land area) is designated as a Site of Special Scientific Interest, National Nature Reserve or Local Nature Reserve.
Initial monitoring of these sites by Natural England following the implementation of the CRoW Act (which introduced ‘right to roam’ for hikers and climbers, primarily in high altitude areas) found that the ecosystems had remained largely unchanged by the experience.
protection
But opponents still say a more flexible, non-habitat-specific model that would reduce access pressures on designated areas is arguably more promising. And while there will always be honeypots, greater access on doorsteps would reduce the number of visitors who drive hours to remote national parks just to take a walk or swim.
It matters to nature too, because our regions are where we have the most influence and agency. Like ourselves, the authors support the rights of nature.
But they seem to be resentful of those who are likely to advocate for them. Even with current modest access, communities across the country have shown what is possible by stepping up to protect their natural heritage, which we call “natural heritage.” Wild Service.
We’ve seen it Sheffieldin Wellingborough. Wharf And that Wai, cam And that AvonIn countless places across the country, connection has been a harbinger of conservation.
Connection
These practices are rarely counted as conservation benefits of access, but that is exactly what they are: Indeed, river pollution is becoming a central focus of environmental policy. Soar to the forefront Despite being forced to fight over fundamental aspects of the political agenda, The right to swim.
I believe that all these grassroots conservationists, and the author himself, have been motivated by formative experiences in the natural world, the fundamental prerequisite of which is access to the outdoors.
But increasingly Micro Enclosure is happening All over the country,and, Even long-standing rights In places like Dartmoor, such fundamental experiences are harder than ever to come by: in the words of Chris Packham, the young naturalist is the countryside’s most endangered species today.
The authors also express concern that “many people, especially in urban communities, have lost the sense of being an integral, living participant in the natural world,” while making the implausible claim that “access does not in itself lead to connection.” No, it doesn’t. But it is much harder without it.
Police Activities
I don’t doubt the sincerity of the authors’ beliefs, or their motivations beyond the plight of the natural world they so fiercely roam and claim a right to share, but putting their case on a fundamentally unfair system is a risky gamble.
In the long run, this weakens the case for conservation and empowers those who seek to trade off human interests against the interests of nature, as if our destinies were not interwoven.
Ultimately, those of us who identify as environmentalists need to stop imagining ourselves as better, more unique, or more special than those who don’t.
Anyone can do it if they have the means, time and experience. everyone – And so does our ability to be guardians of nature. The future of conservation lies in making each of these elements more accessible, not in policing who does and doesn’t care.
This author
John Moses is a freelance writer and organiser for Right to Roam, a campaigning organisation fighting for free, fair and informed access to land and water across England.
