‘WILDERNESS: The wounding of England’s last great wild spaces’ is out now

The government has paid out more than £330m in the last decade through environmental farming schemes in England’s national parks, yet only one quarter of the country’s most precious nature sites in the same places are considered in good condition, an ENDS Report documentary has revealed.

Exclusive ENDS analysis has found that government funded agri-environment schemes aimed specifically at improving nature in “priority areas”, have seen a total of £331 million paid out to farmers since 2009, while only one quarter of the country’s protected sites in the same places are classed as being in a ‘favourable condition’.

Watch the film now: ‘WILDERNESS: The wounding of England’s Last Great Wild Spaces‘

Exclusive analysis by the UK environmental news outlet has found that government funded agri-environment schemes, which have seen millions paid out to farmers since 2009, have done little to move the dial on an ecological crisis which experts say is threatening the future of England’s most precious nature sites – and UK climate targets.

ENDS Report’s new film WILDERNESS documents how this failure to effectively invest in England’s natural heritage and work with farmers has seen one of the country’s best loved and last great wild spaces, Dartmoor, brought to its ecological knees.

Famous for its vast moors, the national park is home to some of the last remaining fragments of Britain’s once widespread and biodiverse temperate rainforests, as well as peatland bogs holding an estimated 10 million tonnes of carbon – equivalent to an entire year of carbon dioxide emissions from UK industry. But some say it is the high numbers of sheep, and lack of wolves, which have thrown its ecosystem out of balance. 

ENDS Report’s analysis has found that £30.3m has been paid out since 2009 under the government’s Higher Level Stewardship schemes to Dartmoor farms on which Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) are found. These schemes are intended to improve the environment in high priority areas, but more than 80% of the national park’s SSSIs – the supposed jewels in the crown of English nature – are considered in poor health.

The documentary hears how this is preventing a more biodiverse and sustainable landscape from bouncing back, and threatening the park’s carbon sinks, which if overly degraded will see the national park begin emitting greenhouse gases.

While government agency Natural England has defended the value of the schemes, insiders tell ENDS Report that the country is “way off” meeting its statutory targets to stop the decline of nature and international commitments to protect 30% of the country for nature by 2030.

Agency insiders speaking out in WILDERNESS explain how years of wage stagnation mean the government is struggling to hold onto staff with the technical skills and ability to make a change. 

Jamie Carpenter, editor at ENDS Report said: “The UK is one of the most nature-depleted countries in the world, and while England’s national parks are enjoyed by many, what we show in this documentary is that the jewels in the crown of our countryside are on the their knees.

“Our investigation reveals how throwing money at green farming schemes will not work on its own, and that a serious national conversation needs to be had about our green and suffering land. Food security, healthy rivers, and a vibrant world relies on nature being able to sustain itself. 

“However, as the farmers, ecologists – and government insiders – attest to in WILDERNESS, nature in this country is at a dangerous cross-roads, which will impact us all wherever we live.” 

WILDERNESS – The wounding of England’s last Great wild spaces is available to watch now. 

[ENDS]

Notes to Editors

Interviews available on request

Media enquiries: 

Tara Geoghegan, Impact & Communications Manager

[email protected]

About ENDS Report

Established in 1978, ENDS Report is the UK’s number one source of intelligence for environmental professionals, providing news, intelligence, analysis and features that environmental practitioners need to keep up to date and understand key trends in the environmental space.

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