National Parks in 100 Seconds

I attended a really interesting zoom event on Tuesday evening: the launch of the National Park in 100 seconds video made by Dan Raven-Ellison and Jack Smith.  The concept builds on previous ‘100 second’ videos they have made that show 1 second per 1 percent of landcover.  It is essentially a very effective data visualization tool that raises question about whether the land use/land cover in national parks is in the correct proportions.  For example, is too much moorland managed for grouse shooting, or too much of our national parks covered in commercial forestry?  In the discussion the participants stressed the need for a balanced approach to national park management.  One interesting point made by Alison Barnes from the New Forest National Park Authority was that by not showing more built up, human areas, the film underplays the role of people in shaping national parks.  There is a real sense that national parks aren’t doing what they should be doing at the moment, with a statistic, for example, that only 26% of sites of special scientific interest are in favourable condition within national parks, compared to a figure of over 40% outside national parks.  Change clearly needs to happen, and this is a moment for change as a result of Brexit and the new agricultural settlement.