Dr Mark Avery is a conservationist, author, founding director of WildJustice, and a contributor to the People’s Manifesto for Wildlife as the Minister for Upland Ecology.

Charlie Moores spoke with Mark in Buxton (on the edge of the Peak District National Park in Derbyshire) for the podcast series ‘The People’s Manifesto for Wildlife – Revisited’ the day before Hen Harrier Day 2019. He asked Mark whether in the twelve months since the publication of the Manifesto there had there been much change in how our uplands are managed or protected, and whether he still stood by his assertion that the UK’s National Parks didn’t live up to their name and should be downgraded.

“…our national parks are national parks in name only – when I think of the Peak District National Park I don’t think it’s akin to Yosemite – we ought to put ‘delivering nature’ back into national parks…”

Mark Avery | Minister for Upland Ecology (One Year On)
August 2019

• Header image (left to right) Ruth Tingay, Mark Avery, and Chris Packham at the Hen Harrier Day 2019 event in Derbyshire. Photo copyright Guy Shorrock and used with permission