WILD JUSTICE—PART ONE—OVERGRAZING ON DARTMOOR

Today we bring you a few updates including a guest blog on our recent legal action about overgrazing on Dartmoor, news of a brilliant campaign to restore the incredible and valuable natural landscape of Dartmoor and also share some news about 'Wild Justice on Sea' and this year's 'Wild Summit'. Our Dartmoor grazing case – a deep dive into the judgement In March of this year, we finally received news that we had won our legal challenge, ruling that parts of Dartmoor had been mismanaged. We had argued that the Dartmoor Commoners’ Council (DCC) had failed to carry out its statutory legal duties to safeguard protected sites on Dartmoor, allowing overgrazing to impact wildlife and damage habitats. You can find out more about the initial stages of the case here and the court’s ruling here. Tony Whitehead, an environmental campaigner and a member of the Dartmoor Nature Alliance has written a brilliant in-depth overview of the judgement and what it means going forward for grazing on Dartmoor and for the wider governance of England’s common land. To read the blog, follow this link. Our legal challenge has put the issue of grazing on Dartmoor, and the urgent need for improved assessment and regulation of habitat management, squarely on the government’s agenda. Last month, you might have seen the whirlwind of media around the spurious claims that Dartmoor ponies would be culled under new government plans. Despite the media fanfare and airtime this story received, these allegations were utterly false. You can read the Dartmoor Nature Alliance’s response to the media furore here and Natural England’s blog which gave detailed responses to all claims made in the media. As a result of the misleading press coverage, Natural England published a press release on 15 July revealing a sudden decision to introduce new protective legislation for Dartmoor Ponies. You can read the press release here and the Dartmoor Nature Alliance’s response by clicking this link.