The Know Daily - Monday 19 February

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Chat Moss - an ancient peat bog in the north-west of England - has been bought by an environmental trust in a bid to restore the natural landscape. The land had previously been drained for agricultural use, meaning the exposed peat soil has been emitting large amounts of CO2. By re-wetting the bog, the trust hopes to restore biodiversity in the area and enable wildlife to thrive there again.

🚶‍♀️ A “mass trespass” on Dartmoor

Hundreds of Right to Roam campaigners are set to stage a mass trespass on Dartmoor to highlight the “absurdity” of the current law in England.

What will the trespass involve?
The protest at Vixen Tor on 24 February - which organisers say will be the largest mass trespass in a generation - will see campaigners cross a section of private land to get to a piece of land that has right of access, but which can only be reached by trespassing. 

According to the campaign group Right to Roam, there are around 2,500 of these ‘access islands’ in England, with the upcoming action intended to highlight the “piecemeal” nature of the current system. 

So why is the system like this?
It’s all to do with the way England’s partial right to roam was created, explained The Independent. The Countryside and Rights of Way Act (2000) gave people a right to roam over certain landscape types – including mountains and moorland - but much of this “access land” is fragmented and surrounded by private land. 

This means that while 8% of land in England is designated “open country”, researchers estimate that around 2,700 hectares are surrounded by land with no public right of way, said the BBC.

What do campaigners want?
They are calling on the government to implement a Scottish-style right to roam law, which gives a “right of responsible access” to the countryside, with exemptions. 

Last year, the UK Labour party pledged to introduce a Scottish-style law in England if it won the next general election, but it U-turned on the policy in October after some landowners’ groups voiced concerns, noted The Guardian.

One such group - the Country Land and Business Association - told the BBC that “millions of acres of land” are publicly accessible and that “nobody is forced to trespass”.