The unavoidable policy- how to enhance wilderness protection in Europe Simon Boyle, Solicitor Coordinator UKELA Wild Law Group Legal Director Argyll Environmental

What is UKELA? UKELA= United Kingdom Environmental Law Association A charity with the aim ‘To make the law work for a better environment’ Members mainly solicitors, barristers, environmental consultants, academics, students

What is UKELA? Comprises of a governing body, Council Working party groups, e.g. Nature Conservation Working Party, Climate Change and Energy Working Party Special Interest Groups, Young UKELA Special Interest Group and Wild Law Special Interest Group

What is Wild Law? Wild Law Group started 2005 Principles based largely on work of : Christopher Stone, Should Trees have Standing Thomas Berry, The Great Work Cormac Cullinan, Wild Law

What is Wild Law? Currently, legal systems adopt a human-centred view of the world Wild law opposes this dominant view- advocate laws which reflect a balanced system of law and governance for the whole Earth community Earth community should have legal status and rights

Wild law in action US Supreme Court case Sierra Club v Morton Dissenting judgement by Justice Douglas ‘The problem is to make certain that the inanimate objects, which are the very core of America's beauty, have spokesmen before they are destroyed.’

Wild Law in UKELA Wild Law Group has held annual weekends in England with papers published in journal Environmental Law & Management Since 2010 have held weekends in Scotland Loch Ossian (near Ben Nevis), Broadmeadows (Scottish borders), Aviemore (Cairngorms)

Wild Law in UKELA November 2005 first UKELA Wild Law conference – University of Brighton

UKELA Wild Law Group Those who attended first Scottish weekend at Loch Ossian decided to form a group that would look at how law could be improved to provide greater protection to wilderness areas Landscape or Wilderness Directive Wish to work with other organisations with similar objectives Expect to work closely with the John Muir Trust, possibly Scottish Mountaineering Council

Wild Land in the United Kingdom John Muir Trust Map- mapping relative ‘wildness’ Best 10% in blue – nearly all in Scotland <33% of best areas in Scotland have statutory landscape protection – majority at risk

Wild Land in Scotland John Muir Trust Map- mapping wild land These wild land areas are now under threat from human development- primarily from onshore windfarms 2002, 41 per cent of Scotland was unaffected by visual impact from built development 2009, that figure dropped to 28 per cent

Wild Land in the UK Progress in the UK on mapping of wild land – expressed as ‘relative wildness’ Planning policies in place from 2 National Parks in Scotland to try and protect wildest areas Small area in Wales is unprotected – small area in Northern England protected by National Park status National policy and planning guidance is weak – requires robust policy linked to new maps

Wilderness in Europe In Europe less than 1% of European landmass can be categorised as wilderness Predominantly in Finland, Sweden, Norway, Ukraine and Western Russia Europe’s last remaining primeval forest, Bialowieza in Poland (was Royal hunting reserve)

European Protection Habitats Directive Birds Directive Natura 2000 Designated Sites Water Framework Directive These are all critical but no Directive on Wilderness for its own right

The urgent need for wilderness protection The remaining 1% of Europe’s remaining wilderness is under many threats of economic development including windfarms, hydroelectric dams and tourism Wilderness is vital for biodiversity and for man both for recreation and for solitude

Balancing energy needs and wilderness The UKELA Wild Law Group understands the vital need to transition from fossil fuels to renewable energy However this does not mean that renewable energy must be produced at any cost and without recourse to wider environmental concerns There should be more focus on reducing energy dependency through efficiency and saving

The urgent need for wilderness protection Over the centuries many of our greatest writers, poets and scientists have recognised the vital importance of wilderness: Wordsworth- ‘A wilderness is rich with liberty’ Thoreau- ‘In wilderness is the preservation of the world’ Aldo Leopold – ‘Wilderness is a resource which can shrink but not grow... the creation of new wilderness in the full sense of the word is impossible’

The urgent need for wilderness protection President Theodore Roosevelt- ‘Short-sighted men who in their greed and selfishness will, if permitted, rob our country of half its charm by their reckless extermination of all useful and beautiful wild things...’

The urgent need for wilderness protection The UKELA Wild Law Group therefore fully supports the European Parliament’s Resolution on Wilderness on Europe (OJC67E/1)

Changing attitude to wilderness Wilderness – means undisturbed habitat which is essential if we are to halt the current mass extinction of the natural world Up to 27,000 species a year may be lost (75 a day)- mainly through loss of habitat

Wilderness protection in USA United States Wilderness Act 1964 ‘A wilderness, in contrast with those areas where man and his own works dominate the landscape, is hereby recognized as an area where the earth and community of life are untrammelled by man, where man himself is a visitor who does not remain.’

Wilderness protection in USA National Wilderness Preservation System (NWPS) Covers 106 million acres (429,000 km²) Once a wilderness area has been added to the System, its protection and boundary can only be altered by another act of Congress

Wilderness protection in USA Five criteria to meet before land can be designated: 1) the land is under federal ownership and management 2) the area consists of at least five thousand acres of land

Wilderness protection in USA 3) human influence is “substantially unnoticeable” 4) there are opportunities for solitude and recreation 5) the area possesses “ecological, geological, or other features of scientific, educational, scenic, or historical value”

Wilderness protection in USA 704 areas now protected under NWPS 2.5% of land mass of the main 48 States Increases to 5% if Alaska is included 30 March 2009 President Obama signed Omnibus Public Park Management Act Additional 2 million acres protected as Wilderness

EU Development European Parliament Resolution, Wilderness in Europe, 3, Feb 2009 ‘Restoration of Europe’s last wilderness areas are vital to halting the loss of biodiversity’ ‘Calls on the commission to develop an EU wilderness strategy’ ‘Calls on the Commission and the Member States to develop wilderness areas’

EU Development May 2009 meeting in Prague ‘Message from Prague’ Supported European Parliament Action Plan for implementation Supported by European Centre for Nature Conservation

Conclusion Some countries, such as USA recognise the value of wilderness and provide high level of legal protection Europe currently does not- however an important start has been made The loss of biodiversity is probably the most serious threat facing this planet and every species It is of the utmost importance for the EU to bring into effect legislation that will properly protect the last remaining areas of European wilderness