Phil Stocker’s letter (12 June) defends sheep farming against an attack that doesn’t exist. Nowhere in the Guardian article he is responding to (Conservationists call for Lake District to lose Unesco world heritage status, 7 June) does anyone call for “sheep farming’s demise”. Neither the letter I sent to Unesco nor the report that I co-authored, both referred to in the article, call for it either. Instead, we’re raising concerns about the Lake District’s world heritage site designation, which poses a major threat to exactly the sort of adaptation that Mr Stocker says he wants and that most farmers know is coming.
None of the farmers I’ve spoken to could name a single benefit of being in a world heritage site. Most people won’t be aware of the downsides, but for those of us working in conservation, they are obvious. The designation is influencing decisions by the national park authority, which views every element of the park’s management through a world heritage lens and puts sheep farming first, often at the expense of rural livelihoods and nature.
