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Wildin g in the last co lo n y


IT’S now two years since Y Tir published a cartoon showing a vulture with an RSPB leg‐ring hungrily watching over a farmer, in a scene aimed at depicting how a worst‐case Brexit scenario might impactWelsh agriculture. Such cartoons are by nature unforgiving, but the point being made was a


serious one: Environmental organisations are generally uncomfortable about some of the implications of Brexit, but their desire to redirect the 7 5 per cent of rural funding which must currently, under CAP rules, go to farmers leaves them salivating. While the failure of mainstream NGOs to recognise the economic role of


direct farm support has been a concern for decades, bodies with a far more extreme ‘rewilding’ agenda are relatively newkids on the block ‐ although the concept of creating ‘rewilded’ landscapes, where agriculture is abandoned, large ‘apex’ predator species are reintroduced and people have little or no direct interaction with the land, has been around for decades. At the forefront of the rewildingmovement is the charity Rewilding Britain,


inspired by George Monbiot’s 2 0 1 3 book Feral (Monbiot also helped set it up). Feral includes chapters entitled Bring Back th e Wolf and Sh eepwrecked, and earmarks the CambrianMountains as an ideal place in which a landscape and culture generated by 5 ,0 0 0 years of agriculture could be replaced by a ‘rewilded’ environment. A recent column by Patrick Galbraith called rewilding “...a nebu lou s radical


political movement, riding a wave of nostalg ia and sou l‐search ing inan intensely u rbanepoch ”, so it’s hardly surprising that the momentum behind the rewilding movement has grown ‐ especially when we consider that three quarters of the UK’s population live in urban environments, and that even larger percentage have no real contact with nature or farming. In October 2 0 1 8 Rewilding Britain announced “ou r first landscape scale


project” in the form of the £3 .4 million Summit to Sea project. While Rewilding Britain claim the Summit to Sea area will within “five


years...comprise at least 1 0 ,0 0 0 hectares…”, the project area map actually covers around 6 3 ,0 0 0 hectares (1 5 6 ,0 0 0 acres) of north Ceredigion and Montgomeryshire ‐ including Pumlumon, a large area of which has been sold by The Crown Estate to Summit to Sea ‘partners’ TheWaterloo Foundation. Other partners which own or manage land in the area include The


Woodland Trust, Montgomeryshire Wildlife Trust, RSPB, Wales Wild Land Foundation and Natural ResourcesWales (NRW). In the spiel accompanying the Summit to Sea project, Rewilding Britain


highlight the economic challenges and threats faced by farming communities (conveniently, a large part of that threat is down to the proposals to abandon direct farm support, which environmental bodies have lobbied for), and portray themselves as saviours who would create a new form of rural economy where “Core...and bu ffer areas will be establish ed by connecting u p existing restorationinitiatives...and acqu iring additional strateg ic parcels of land wh ere appropriate. Natu ral processes will be restored...and, wh ere appropriate, missing species will be reinstated.” wh ich will “be allowed to dynamically sh ape th e landscape… “Core areas will su pport well‐manag ed, low‐impact tou rism and recreation


and will be extended over time wh ere possible...Su rrounding bu ffer areas will su staina rang e of produ ctive enterprises of h ig h natu re valu e, su ch as low‐ impact continu ou s‐cover forestry, h arvesting of natu ral produ cts, and valu e‐ added meat produ ctionand fish ing .” Those who understand rural economics will recognise the social and


economic dangers of pursuing such a utopian vision, but for many living in urban environments, hundreds ofmiles away fromMidWales, Summit to Sea will look like a silver bullet that quenches environmental concerns and passions while simultaneously helping struggling indigenous communities ‐ with the added bonus of creating their very own Grizzly Adams style wilderness right here in the UK. The relationships between various bodies and individuals linked to the


project are shown alongside this article, and while it seems unlikely that the intentions are anything but well meaning, it is ironic to say the least that the £3 .4 million in funding comes from a trust set‐up by those who are also involved in sheep farming on a vast scale on land that was until relatively recently an untouched wilderness. It appears Wales is not alone in being the target of what many are calling


eco‐colonialism: Danish clothing billionaire Anders Povlsen and his wife Anne now own 8 9 ,0 0 0 ha across the Scottish Highlands, where they have heavily restricted sheep grazing in order to pursue a rewilding agenda. While few can afford to buy land on such a scale, the Summit to Sea area


risks becoming a magnet to those selling up in London or elsewhere, or with a bit of money put to one side, who want to buy directly or indirectly into Rewilding Britain’s vision of how people in a different country should live their lives. Proposed cuts to support for active farmers, published post‐Brexit tariff


rates which slash duty on food imports and possible trade deals to allow cheap food into the countrywould all fuel such a rewilding land‐grab, and the long term threat to our communities and culture must not be ignored. The FUW has raised concerns about Summit to Sea with Welsh Government, Natural ResourcesWales, AssemblyMembers and others, andmembers who share the union’s concerns should do the same.


Lisbet Rausing


Granddaughter of Ruben Rausing, co-founder of Tetra Pak, Lisbet Rausing is said to be one of the UK’s ten richest women


Peter Baldwin Professor of history at the


University of California and author of several books about Europe


Johannes B Partner at Marxer & Part


law firm in Lichtenstein. F of the Board of Dir Centrum Bank from 2


SUMMIT TO SEA SUMMIT SUMMIT TO SEA AREA Focus of phase 1 ac Project ar oject area cus of phase 1 activities


This map is based on the Summit to Shis map is based on the Summit to Sea map found here our


o e:: https://w ttps://www..rewildingbritain.or our-work/summit-t -sea-or-myn dd-ir ork/summit-to-sea-or-mynydd-ir-mor rewildingbritain.org.uk/


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