The human right to roam
The R2R is, according to campaigners, the right to reconnect, whereby, “nature is no longer presented like a museum piece, to be observed from afar behind a line of barbed wire. Instead, it becomes something to be immersed in, a multi-sensory tangible experience whose smells, sounds, sightings can have profound effects upon the minds of beholders.”
We might ponder what those last few curlew might have to say, were they given a voice. What rights could and indeed should we afford non-human actors in any landscape, and how do we begin to agree on the kinds of advocacy required to begin to enact those rights?
Many in our urban communities particularly have lost their sense of being live participants integral to the natural world; the more wildness we continue to lose, the less people have a chance to experience, relate, connect, or benefit from nature.
Simply demanding access to – whatever and wherever – does not in and of itself, however, lead to connection.
We don’t mean to infer that we accept the rights and duties associated with existing patterns of landownership and public access, but are challenging the apparent R2R paradigm of ‘all access good, restricted access bad’.
Further, we believe that with an improved understanding of the rights of non-human animals to roam and be undisturbed, we will have far greater practical success in rebuilding and restoring landscapes and habitats that are resilient and sustainable; places where native wildlife can rebound.
Only through exploring mutually enhancing access mechanisms – founded upon upholding the rights of non-human and human animals alike – can genuine co-habitation for future generations of all animal-kind become realisable.
Learning from nature
We all recall how under the lockdowns of 2021 and 2022 wild species soon became objects of fascination in our daily lives.
From our windows, gardens, pavements and cities, we tuned in to birdsong; in the absence of machines, birds need to sing less loudly, saving energy, essential if you have to work hard to keep yourself and your offspring fed.
Animals played out apparently audacious forays into urban settings; goats eating ‘our’ hedges in Llandudno, dolphins appearing in the Venetian lagoon.
The lessons were immediate, astonishing, but soon forgotten. We must remember how easy it is for natural processes to recover when given the right conditions. Give nature space, and we are paid back tenfold, even when we do not witness or take part in those processes.
Consider the regeneration of Ennerdale in the Lake District, or the replacement of civic verges with pollinator rich wildflower mini-meadows in an increasing number of boroughs including the trail-blazing work of Scouse Flowerhouse across Liverpool and the North.
Saving non-human others and ourselves
The issue of countryside access has, we believe, become far too over-simplified. With all that we know about our failure to protect and enhance Britain’s wildlife, including species on the brink of extinction, campaigns centring on extending R2R legislation lack the necessary in-depth reflection around the potential effects such access would have on wildlife.
Given the dire state of nature in England, any discussions around placing human needs ahead of that of any other living animal must be far more nuanced.
As we move forward and the climate crisis becomes an ever more pressing existential threat to wildlife, protecting refuge areas – and creating new ones – will be pivotal for species’ survival.
As we have seen, this is an accepted principle in the Netherlands, as indeed, in many other countries. Why should this be contentious for England?
However compelling the ethical case for prioritising the few and becoming scarcer wild animals over growingly abundant human ones, ultimately it is not just in nature’s interest to create discrete spaces for them alone. Without wildlife, human life will become a much more arduous if not impossible venture.
The Authors
Dr Karen Lloyd is a researcher and Writer in Residence with Lancaster University’s Future Places Centre and author of Abundance: Nature in Recovery (Bloomsbury, 2021), longlisted for the Wainwright Prize for Writing on Conservation, 2022. Ian Convery is professor of environment and society at the University of Cumbria and is co-chair (along with Steve Carver) of the IUCN CEM Rewilding Task Force. He is also IUCN CEM chair for Western Europe. Dr Simon Leadbeater manages woodland and runs a small farm animal sanctuary tweeting as @OurSacredGrove. Sally Hawkins is a post-doctoral research associate at the University of Cumbria and lead editor of Routledge Handbook of Rewilding (2023). Steve Carver is professor of rewilding and wilderness science in the School of Geography, University of Leeds and director of the Wildland Research Institute. He is co-chair (along with Ian Convery) of the IUCN CEM Rewilding Task Force.
