At the current time 26% of the UK is designated as a national park, area of outstanding beauty or other form of protected area. However, to claim that this whole area is set aside for nature, is absurd. British national parks, unlike African ones still have human habitation within them.
While the number of people living within a national park varies widely (Northumberland national park only has about 2000 inhabitants, while the South downs national park has 113,000) to suggest that these areas are set aside for nature is ridiculous. Indeed there have been various reports over the last few years, which have found that the amount of wildlife, and the land set aside for it, is often not noticeably higher within these so called national parks than without.
Currently roughly 28% of the UK is registered as being protected for nature. A recent study found that only 11% of this is designated primarily for conservation, and of this only about 5% is actually in a good state for nature to thrive.
Indeed of the 20 international targets set out in 2010 to help stop nature loss, the UK has failed to meet 17 of them – quite a dismal record (I cannot think of any exam, where a mark of 15% would be considered a good performance)
