Why is nature in our national parks doing even worse than nature elsewhere?

This post is by Ruth Bradshaw, policy and research manager at the Campaign for National Parks.

When the first national parks of England and Wales were created in the 1950s, the nation was still recovering from the second world war. Now, in a time of nature and climate crisis, we need these places more than ever. And it’s not just us that needs them. Our national parks are often the last refuge for many of our most threatened species, such as the curlew, hen harrier and cuckoo. But our recent National parks health check report has found that, even in these special places, nature is really struggling.

We’ve provided a detailed assessment of the state of nature recovery in all the national parks of England and Wales. It’s the first time anything on this scale has been attempted and we found it a major challenge to gather the data to properly understand the situation. Many relevant national datasets – on species abundance, water quality etc – are simply not available at the national park level and we had to commission extra analysis just to understand some very basic details, such as changes in woodland coverage.

The assessment had some shocking results
But now the results are in and we had some shocking findings. We found that only a quarter of Sites of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in England’s national parks are in ‘favourable’ condition compared to a higher national average of 38 per cent. Only six per cent of all land in national parks is being managed effectively for nature. In 2022, the number of days when sewage was released from storm overflows within national park boundaries in England and Wales totalled 7,367 days. Despite a national mission to plant more trees, woodland expansion across all the national parks between 2015 and 2020 came to a total of just eight square miles (the national parks cover 6,471 square miles). National parks contain 38 per cent of the total carbon-storing peatland in England and Wales, but the vast majority of that (between 70 and 80 per cent) is likely to be in poor condition.

We also looked at the management plans produced for each of the national parks as the key documents which should set out clear targets and objectives for supporting nature recovery, but we found significant gaps in the information they contain. For example, four out of the 13 plans include no baseline data on any of the three topics we focused on: habitats, species and water quality, making it impossible to understand the state of nature at the start of the plan period. Three out of the 13 plans contained no specific, timebound targets on habitats, species or water quality. And, in most cases – 11 out of the 13 – there had been no progress assessment published against the plan.

There are three main reasons for poor outcomes
From the evidence we gathered, and conversations we had with National Park Authority (NPA) officers and others during the course of our research, we identified three main causes for this situation.

First, NPAs have limited control over what happens on most of the land in national parks, particularly where it is privately owned. The mechanisms for ensuring that landowners and other key partners support nature recovery are far too weak.

Second, national parks were designed for a different era. The world has changed a lot since the 1950s and the way they are run and managed needs to change if they’re going to be able to provide what society and the environment needs today.

And, third, there is a lack of resources available for national parks. Put simply, the funding available just doesn’t match the national role that the parks should have on nature recovery.

Major reforms are needed quickly
We have set out a series of major reforms to address the scale of these challenges. Most importantly, governments in both England and Wales need stronger laws and to allocate additional resources, including doubling the core funding for NPAs. They need to make it clear that national parks are nature designations as well as landscape designations. This requires a complete transformation in the way these areas are run, to ensure there is a much greater emphasis on nature and its recovery in all their decisions.

As well as better enforcement of existing laws in national parks, such as those aimed at ensuring SSSIs are maintained in good condition, new laws are needed to crack down on wildlife crime and end damaging practices such as burning on peat.

Water companies and the Ministry of Defence should be required to contribute to the costs of cleaning up the damage their activities are causing to national parks, and they should be doing far more to prevent future damage.

All landowners within the park areas should be incentivised to adopt nature friendly practices. This should involve greater levels of support for nature recovery through the agri-environment payment schemes.

National parks should also be places where everyone feels welcome and connected, so they understand exactly why they are so important for nature.

Finally, bodies like Natural England and Natural Resources Wales must make it far easier to get hold of evidence so we understand the true state of nature in national parks. This is something which could be put right very quickly, and which we think should be addressed as a matter of urgency.

All of us can take action to ensure our national parks do more for nature. We’ve created an online toolkit to help people demand positive change for people and the planet by writing to their MPs and Senedd members.

 

[Image by Zhi Xuan Hew on Unsplash]