Maintaining the Countryside

The Prince's Rural Action Programme launched  The Prince's Countryside Fund in July 2010. It raised £1 million from it's fourteen founding companies who are committed to the sustainability and future of Britain’s farming industry and the British Countryside. The founding companies of the fund will display The Prince’s Countryside Fund logo on some their products and be found in a majority of the UK's leading retailers. The money raised from these companies and individuals is channelled into a range of projects with a track record of success in supporting British farming and the rural economy.

An environmental asset 

The countryside provides people with a wide range of services, ranging from the nurture of wildlife to the management of water catchments, from the quality of the air that we breathe to locking away carbon in our soils and woodlands as part of climate regulation and mitigating dangerous climate change.  Estimates from the National Trust suggest that over 10bn tonnes of carbon are locked away in UK soils alone – the equivalent of around a year and a half of global CO₂ emissions, or well over 60 years of UK CO₂ emissions.  A number of these services can be preserved or even enhanced by the actions of those who manage the countryside, but many of these are also under threat.

Sustainability of rural areas

The popularity of the British countryside as a place of leisure is not reflected in the economic health of its indigenous communities, despite the estimated £10.6bn contributed to parts of the UK economy from the estimated 763m rural leisure visits per year (according to the 2005 English Leisure Visits Survey) which is not filtering through to those maintaining this important asset.  Indeed, many farmers and  land managers make very low returns from their work, making it less attractive for others to enter the industry.  Nor is this popularity consistently reflected in the countryside’s social health.  In many areas, village life is being eroded by a lack of local services, employment opportunities and affordable housing.