Encouraging Safe, Green and Economically Sustainable use of our Natural Environment

Abstract

Natural Resources Wales is the largest Welsh Government Sponsored Body, formed in April 2013, and it is taking over the functions of the Countryside Council for Wales, Forestry Commission Wales and the Environment Agency in Wales, as well as certain Welsh Government functions. Managing users, and user behaviour in the countryside has always been an issue, but it’s been recently exacerbated by Covid-19. The question posed to the study group is to formulate a mathematical model of the way that people (typically tourists) use and behave in a National Park. We would want to answer: 1. How do we better redistribute pressures or resources? 2. Where is best to intervene to disrupt bad behaviours (we’ve provided a spreadsheet of anti-social behaviours and some case study material to help highlight these issues)? 3. How do we mitigate/balance risks of negative experiences of users against negative effects on sites? 4. What do we not know, what are we missing from the picture?