Tackling global warming is key to keeping Dartmoor ‘special', says William
The Duchy of Cornwall and Central Dartmoor Landscape Recovery Project (CDLR) launched a new project to 'create a resilient environment' and meet the changing needs of Dartmoor's communities.
In a foreword to the Landscape Vision project, the Prince of Wales said: 'Dartmoor is a magnificent and complex ecosystem – the balance between nature and people has evolved for thousands of years to shape the landscape we recognise today.
'To keep Dartmoor special, we must respond to the twin challenges of global warming and the requirement to restore nature, while ensuring the communities on Dartmoor can thrive.
Water levels fell at Burrator reservoir, Dartmoor, Devon, during a dry start to summer (Ben Birchall/PA)
'The Dartmoor Vision shows us what might be possible and how that might be achieved.
'It is bold and ambitious and something that I hope, by working together, can be delivered for not just the current generation but for generations to come.'
Researchers found the average number of frost days in Dartmoor is expected to halve over the next 40 years while the odds of a dry summer will rise by 30%, the Duchy of Cornwall said.
It added that 2C of global warming could prevent Dartmoor being suitable for blanket peatland, which stores carbon and water and sustains biodiversity.
The project will focus on 'coordinated public and private investment' to restore peatlands and upland mosaic habitats in the south Devon area.
It is also seeking to create 'partnerships between landowners, farmers and wildlife teams' and foster 'collaboration and mutual respect in what has historically been a contested landscape'.
The duchy said it will promote sustainable farming as well as initiatives to provide affordable housing for landscape managers and retiring workers.
Around 35,000 people live in Dartmoor and more than two million people visit each year.
Claire Hyne, project manager at CDLR, said: 'The Central Dartmoor Landscape Recovery Project plans to continue to work alongside the duchy, farmers and commoners to co-create integrated land management plans whilst identifying opportunities for green finance and funding to help sustain farm businesses, test new ideas and deliver positive environmental outcomes.'
Matthew Morris, rural director at the Duchy of Cornwall, said they want to set up a 'shared and multifunctional approach to the way the land is farmed, managed, and used, and in doing so create a more resilient Dartmoor environment'.
Mr Morris added: 'With the Dartmoor landscape increasingly vulnerable to climate change, the need to build resilience is clearer than ever.'
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Glasgow Times
2 days ago
- Glasgow Times
Archaeological ‘jigsaw' reveals 2,000-year-old Roman wall paintings
Archaeologists have spent four years working on thousands of fragments of shattered plaster discovered at a site in Southwark, near London Bridge station and Borough Market, in 2021 to painstakingly piece together the artwork of a high-status Roman building. It is believed the frescoes once decorated at least 20 internal walls between AD 40 and 150, before the building was demolished and the wall plaster dumped into a pit before the start of the third century. But now the reconstruction of the wall art has shed further light on high society in Roman Britain. Archaeologists uncovering the wall plaster during excavations at The Liberty Site in Southwark (Museum of London Archaeology/PA) The paintings – which display bright yellow panel designs with black intervals, decorated with beautiful images of birds, fruit, flowers, and lyres – demonstrate both the wealth and taste of the building's owners, according to the excavation team at the Museum of London Archaeology (Mola). Yellow panel designs were scarce in the Roman period, and repeating yellow panels found at the site in Southwark were even scarcer, making the discovery extremely rare. Among the fragments is rare evidence of a painter's signature – the first known example of this practice in Britain. Framed by a 'tabula ansata', a carving of a decorative tablet used to sign artwork in the Roman world, it contains the Latin word 'fecit' which translates to 'has made this'. But the fragment is broken where the painter's name would have appeared, meaning their identity will likely never be known. Specialist Han Li examining a piece of the wall plaster from one of the largest collections of painted Roman wall plaster (Museum of London Archaeology/PA) Unusual graffiti of the ancient Greek alphabet has also been reconstructed – the only example of this inscription found to date in Roman Britain. The precision of the scored letters suggests that it was done by a proficient writer and not someone undertaking writing practice. Some fragments imitate high-status wall tiles, such as red Egyptian porphyry – a crystal-speckled volcanic stone – framing the elaborate veins of African giallo antico – a yellow marble. Inspiration for the wall decorations was taken from other parts of the Roman world – such as Xanten and Cologne in Germany, and Lyon in France. It took three months for Mola senior building material specialist Han Li to lay out all the fragments and reconstruct the designs to their original place. He said: 'This has been a 'once-in-a-lifetime' moment, so I felt a mix of excitement and nervousness when I started to lay the plaster out. 'Many of the fragments were very delicate and pieces from different walls had been jumbled together when the building was demolished, so it was like assembling the world's most difficult jigsaw puzzle. 'I was lucky to have been helped by my colleagues in other specialist teams for helping me arrange this titanic puzzle as well as interpret ornaments and inscriptions – including Ian Betts and the British School at Rome – who gave me their invaluable opinions and resources. 'The result was seeing wall paintings that even individuals of the late Roman period in London would not have seen.' Han Li reconstructing the wall plaster (Museum of London Archaeology) Speaking to the Today programme on BBC Radio 4, Mr Li said: 'When you are looking at thousands of fragments of wall paintings every day, you start to commit everything to memory. 'You are sometimes working when you are sleeping as well. 'There was one time that I thought that this fragment goes here, and I woke up and it actually happened – so you could say I was working a double shift. 'But it's a beautiful end result.' One fragment features the face of a crying woman with a Flavian period (AD 69-96) hairstyle, hinting at the time period it may have been created. Work to further explore each piece of plaster continues.
Glasgow Times
2 days ago
- Glasgow Times
Most people unaware Britain hosts wildlife-rich rainforests, polling suggests
Nature charity Plantlife is calling for greater protection of Britain's hidden and largely vanished rainforests, including government funding, full legal protection and long-term support for forest managers, and point to polling that finds support for the habitat is strongly backed by the public. The poll of more than 2,000 people by Opinion Matters for Plantlife found that 58% thought they understood what a temperate rainforest was. But 45% associated them with tropical rainforest-rich Brazil, while just one in five (20%) expected them to grow in England, only 12% linked them to Wales, and 13.5% thought they would grow in Scotland, all areas where they are found. Britain's temperate rainforests are rich in mosses and lichens (Dave Lamacraft/Plantlife/PA) It also found seven in 10 people would be interested in visiting a temperate rainforest, and 88% thought it was important that government makes protecting the habitat a priority. Temperate rainforests, once known as Atlantic oakwoods or Celtic rainforests, are a globally rare habitat, with just 1% of the world's land providing the wet, mild conditions they need, in places including the western fringes of Europe, the west coast of Canada, Japan and New Zealand. These habitats once swathed western coasts of England, Wales, Scotland, the island of Ireland and the Isle of Man, but the area of Britain covered by these woodlands has shrunk from a fifth to just 1%, cleared for timber, commercial forestry and agriculture. The fragments that are left are filled with native trees festooned with mosses, ferns and lichens, and rich in rare wildlife such as pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly and birds including wood warbler, pied flycatcher and redstart. But those remaining pockets of habitat face multiple threats including isolation, invasive species and rising temperatures which put their unique micro-climate at risk. Conservationists say scaling up and connecting areas of healthy rainforest habitat, by planting native trees and enabling natural regeneration of the woodlands and species that grow in them, is crucial to making sure they and the wildlife they support can survive in the face of climate change. Restoring these ancient woodlands can also play a role in tackling climate change, storing carbon and reducing run-off and flooding caused by increasingly heavy rainstorms, they argue. Adam Thorogood, rainforest programme manager at Plantlife said: 'Britain's rainforests are hiding in plain sight – in places like the west coast of Scotland, Eryri (Snowdonia) in Wales, the Lake District and the fringes of Dartmoor and Exmoor. 'These are ancient places with twisted branches, dappled light and boulders cloaked in mosses and lichens – survivors of Earth's earliest ecosystems, tracing back 400 million years.' Jenny Hawley, Plantlife's policy and advocacy manager added: 'If Britain's rainforests are to survive, we need an urgent response from governments. 'Political commitments to tackle the twin crises of biodiversity and climate change are worth very little without real action on the ground. 'National rainforest funds, full legal protection and long-term support for rainforest managers are vital steps forward.' Plantlife, which unveiled the poll ahead of world rainforest day, says it is working with farmers, landowners, governments and communities to protect and restore the UK's remaining temperate rainforests.
Western Telegraph
2 days ago
- Western Telegraph
Most people unaware Britain hosts wildlife-rich rainforests, polling suggests
Nature charity Plantlife is calling for greater protection of Britain's hidden and largely vanished rainforests, including government funding, full legal protection and long-term support for forest managers, and point to polling that finds support for the habitat is strongly backed by the public. The poll of more than 2,000 people by Opinion Matters for Plantlife found that 58% thought they understood what a temperate rainforest was. But 45% associated them with tropical rainforest-rich Brazil, while just one in five (20%) expected them to grow in England, only 12% linked them to Wales, and 13.5% thought they would grow in Scotland, all areas where they are found. Britain's temperate rainforests are rich in mosses and lichens (Dave Lamacraft/Plantlife/PA) It also found seven in 10 people would be interested in visiting a temperate rainforest, and 88% thought it was important that government makes protecting the habitat a priority. Temperate rainforests, once known as Atlantic oakwoods or Celtic rainforests, are a globally rare habitat, with just 1% of the world's land providing the wet, mild conditions they need, in places including the western fringes of Europe, the west coast of Canada, Japan and New Zealand. These habitats once swathed western coasts of England, Wales, Scotland, the island of Ireland and the Isle of Man, but the area of Britain covered by these woodlands has shrunk from a fifth to just 1%, cleared for timber, commercial forestry and agriculture. The fragments that are left are filled with native trees festooned with mosses, ferns and lichens, and rich in rare wildlife such as pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly and birds including wood warbler, pied flycatcher and redstart. But those remaining pockets of habitat face multiple threats including isolation, invasive species and rising temperatures which put their unique micro-climate at risk. Conservationists say scaling up and connecting areas of healthy rainforest habitat, by planting native trees and enabling natural regeneration of the woodlands and species that grow in them, is crucial to making sure they and the wildlife they support can survive in the face of climate change. Restoring these ancient woodlands can also play a role in tackling climate change, storing carbon and reducing run-off and flooding caused by increasingly heavy rainstorms, they argue. Adam Thorogood, rainforest programme manager at Plantlife said: 'Britain's rainforests are hiding in plain sight – in places like the west coast of Scotland, Eryri (Snowdonia) in Wales, the Lake District and the fringes of Dartmoor and Exmoor. 'These are ancient places with twisted branches, dappled light and boulders cloaked in mosses and lichens – survivors of Earth's earliest ecosystems, tracing back 400 million years.' Jenny Hawley, Plantlife's policy and advocacy manager added: 'If Britain's rainforests are to survive, we need an urgent response from governments. 'Political commitments to tackle the twin crises of biodiversity and climate change are worth very little without real action on the ground. 'National rainforest funds, full legal protection and long-term support for rainforest managers are vital steps forward.' Plantlife, which unveiled the poll ahead of world rainforest day, says it is working with farmers, landowners, governments and communities to protect and restore the UK's remaining temperate rainforests.
