Prince of Wales: We can save Dartmoor from climate change

Telegraph

12-06-2025

The Prince of Wales has launched a 'bold and ambitious' project to protect Dartmoor from the impact of climate change and return the land 'to its former glory'.
He warned that Dartmoor's 'magnificent and complex ecosystem' was under threat, and that action was needed in order to allow it to thrive and keep it 'special' for future generations.
The Prince's Duchy of Cornwall has joined forces with the Central Dartmoor Landscape Recovery project to propose a new approach to grazing, conservation and biodiversity.
The Dartmoor Landscape Vision is designed as a 20-year road map and is the largest project of its kind in the UK.
The Prince, who inherited the Duchy from his father on the death of Elizabeth II, braved heavy rain and wind to visit Tor Royal Bog, near Yelverton, Devon, on Thursday to speak to some of those working on the project.
'I'm keen to continue my father's work as well,' he said.
'For me it's about the impact, I want to see stuff actually happen. We've done the talking now, we've put the vision together, the design, now it's about the activation.'
Pointing to an area of restored peatland, he added: 'Even though this is a small bit, we need to get more and more of this going on all around Dartmoor to bring it back to its former glory, while still keeping the farming and everything else going.'
'Magnificent and complex'
The Prince wrote in the foreword to the Landscape Vision: 'Dartmoor is a magnificent and complex ecosystem – the balance between nature and people has evolved for thousands of years to shape the landscape we recognise today.
'To keep Dartmoor special, we must respond to the twin challenges of global warming and the requirement to restore nature, while ensuring the communities on Dartmoor can thrive.
'The Dartmoor Vision shows us what might be possible and how that might be achieved. It is bold and ambitious and something that I hope, by working together, can be delivered for not just the current generation but for generations to come.'
During his visit to the area, the Prince met with Duchy tenant farmers David and Justine Colton at Tor Royal Bog, and spoke to members of the South West Peatland Partnership and Tony Juniper, chair of Natural England.
As they chatted in the steady downpour, the Prince joked: 'I came to talk about the fires and a plan to re-wet peat!'
Referring to the Landscape Vision, he said: 'To be able to bring everyone together, I think, is not only crucial to the whole thing but it sets a model for how it can be done elsewhere. And that's what I love doing. Whatever we do here, other people can follow what we're doing.
'So much of it is local leadership and collaboration. If you put those two together, things can be adapted.'
Moving in the right direction
He said not everyone believed the vision to restore the land within just two decades was possible.
'(They said) '20 years, good luck, it's going to take longer than that!' These things take time, they really do. But at least if you set up a path and move in that direction, everyone will move in the same direction.'
An eight-month study that covered 22,000 hectares of land found that average frost days are expected to halve over the next 40 years, while the chances of a dry summer will increase by 30 per cent.
A 2C increase in temperatures could mean that Dartmoor would no longer be suitable for blanket peatland.