Funded by central government to: Conserve and enhance the natural beauty, wildlife and cultural heritage (National Parks UK)
Primary objective: To protect natural biodiversity along with its underlying ecological structure and supporting environmental processes, and to promote education and recreation (IUCN, National Park Objectives)
In allowing large areas of ‘National Park’ land to be used for shooting estates, over-grazing and uneducated family outings, it is clear we are not following the definitions above.
We sometimes appear quite capable of pointing the finger at the removal of natural ecosystems in other parts of the world, but sadly don’t seem to notice that our hectares of muirburn, commercial plantation and ‘rolling’ agricultural land is comparable to palm-oil plantations and cattle ranches elsewhere.
There’s too much to be said about the persecution and suppression of our wildlife on shooting estates and agricultural land for me to write here, but for those of you that do share an interest in the butchery of our own island, then Ben Macdonald's 'Rebirding' (2019) provides some essential facts - in addition to some excellent examples on how Britain could get out of this ecological (and economical) mess.