National Parks need a lifeline

THE CAMPAIGN for National Parks has carried out a health check of nature recovery in Wales’ National Parks and made some worrying discoveries.

This year is the 75th anniversary of the National Parks and Access to the Countryside Act. These iconic landscapes contain a vast array of precious habitats and wildlife. Theoretically, they should be our natural environment’s most highly protected and healthy parts.

However, the Campaign for National Parks’ health check, carried out across Wales and England, discovered nature is struggling for survival due to issues including habitats, species, water quality and wildlife crime.

• Only 19% of lakes in Wales’ three national Parks achieved good overall status in 2021, and only 44% of the rivers.

Fewer than a quarter, 23% of Sites of Specific Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in National Parks in Wales are in a favourable state for nature

• In 2022, the amount of sewage released from storm overflows within the boundaries of National Parks in England and Wales totalled 7,367 days. The National Parks most badly affected (according to hours of spills) are Dartmoor, Eryri, Lake District, South Downs and the Yorkshire Dales.

• Wales’ three National Parks have the potential to hold 29,431,000 tonnes of carbon content, the equivalent of three times Wales’ total CO2 annual emissions. However, in 2019, the Welsh Government estimated that over 70% of Welsh peatlands were degraded.

The poor state of nature is due to a lack of resources, data, and significant powers to make the necessary systemic change.

That’s why the Campaign for National Parks, with the support of Cymdeithas Eryri Snowdonia Society, the Friends of the Brecon Beacons National Park and the Friends of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park, is calling for urgent action to halt and reverse these declines so National Parks can properly contribute to the UK’s efforts in tackling the nature and climate crises.

The TV presenter Iolo Williams said: “The National Parks of Wales hold a very special place in my heart.

“Having lived, worked, and filmed amongst them for many years, I have lost count of the endless hours spent tracking, admiring and promoting their special qualities and unique species.

“From the rare Snowdon Lily in Eryri to the choughs, puffins and stonechat of Pembrokeshire Coast, these treasured landscapes host a glorious array of diverse species.

“Despite their protected status, nature is still in crisis across our National Parks.

“One in six species is at risk of disappearing from Wales, so we must do everything we can to protect and enhance wild spaces so that wildlife can thrive.

“The Campaign for National Parks has set out a programme for action, and we must stand together to get the Governments in Westminster and the Senedd to act.”

Ruth Bradshaw (Policy and Research Manager, Campaign for National Parks, and author of the Health Check) said: “Our National Parks are special places which are often the last refuge for many species on the brink of extinction.

“However, our Health Check has found that nature is in crisis even in these incredible places.

“The main causes of this crisis are the limited ability to influence what happens on most land in National Parks, particularly where it is privately owned, outdated legislation designed for a very different era and the fact that the funding available just doesn’t match the national role that National Parks are expected to deliver for nature recovery.

“The scale of the challenges we’ve identified also demands a series of major reforms aimed at transforming the way these areas are run to ensure that there is a much greater emphasis on nature recovery in all the decisionmaking relating to them.”