The government today finally released a Ministerial Statement on the Glover Landscapes Review, following repeated calls from Campaign for National Parks and others to act on the Review’s important recommendations.
Campaign for National Parks has been calling for the government to implement some of the recommendations from the Glover Landscapes Review since it was first published almost two years ago and were hoping for significant news this week, but were left somewhat disappointed again.
Together with our partners (including National Trust, RSPB, The Wildlife Trusts, Ramblers and more), we’ve been pushing for action to ensure National Parks are better protected and believe that many of the Glover recommendations would help achieve this – but each month that passes is a missed opportunity.
National Parks and the Climate Emergency
Today’s statement included some promising lines such as: ‘The government agrees that more funding should be directed towards making space for nature and supporting nature’s recovery in our protected landscapes.’ It cited the project-funding it made available through the Green Recovery Challenge Fund (only a small portion of which found its way to National Parks).
However, we know that piecemeal project-based funding is not the answer in the absence of an effective, adequately-resourced delivery infrastructure. National Parks need consistent multi-year funding settlements to not only cope with the influx of visitors since the pandemic hit, but to also innovate to mitigate against and tackle climate change (read more in our ‘National Parks and the Climate Emergency’ report released this week). Instead, English National Parks are facing another year of real-term cuts with a flat cash rollover. Thankfully, the Welsh Government stepped up with a much-welcome 10% uplift for National Parks in Wales.
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Posted On: 24/06/2021