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17/03/23 Sheep numbers on Dartmoor to be drastically reduced: Private finance carbon capture

Farmers on Dartmoor told by Natural England to cut back sheep numbers.
Private finance to restore native woodlands in Scotland as part of carbon capture scheme.

Farmers on Dartmoor say they've been told they must radically reduce the number of livestock on common land if they want to remain in government schemes. Natural England has written to commons associations, which cover much of Dartmoor, offering rollovers of existing Higher Level Stewardship Schemes, but only if they stop winter grazing, and drastically reduce the number of animals on the land in the summer - on some commons by an average of 75 percent. We speak to a farmer who's got to reduce his livestock by 91 per cent and the area manager for Natural England.

Who should pay to restore biodiversity in the UK? Governments are keen to encourage private money to work alongside their schemes and Scotland's government nature agency, NatureScot, has announced a Β£2 billion private finance pilot designed to secure landscape scale restoration of native woodlands. Critics are concerned that carbon credit markets are unregulated and don't incentivise companies to reduce emissions.

Presenter = Charlotte Smith
Producer = Rebecca Rooney

13 minutes

Broadcast

  • Fri 17 Mar 2023 05:45

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