Freedom to roam

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The freedom to roam, or everyman's right is a term describing the general public's ability to access land, be it public or privately owned. The term is sometimes called right of public access to the wilderness or right to roam. Usually this access is only applicable to land which has not been cultivated. That is gardens and fields are not regarded as public access land whilst forests and to some extent pastures are. Access does not come without duties and the principle of trace-free travel is always to be followed.

In the Nordic countries of Finland, Iceland, Norway, Sweden; and also in Scotland it may take the form of general public rights which are sometimes codified in law. The access is ancient in parts of Northern Europe and has been regarded as sufficiently basic that it was not formalised in law until modern times.

Many tropical countries such as Madagascar have historic policies of open access to forest or wilderness areas. This practise in the rainforests of eastern Madagascar and in the Madagascar dry deciduous forests has led to considerable destruction of habitat, much of which is effectively irreversible.

In the USA hiking access to true wilderness areas is encouraged, but the rights of a property owner to control access to private lands is generally respected, with exceptions for beach access and other easement rights that can be negotiated between government entities and owners to allow access to lands of unusual merit.

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[edit] History

Traces of the the freedom to roam can be found in several European countries which suggest it was a much earlier common norm, but today the applicability is in a much narrower extent.

It has survived in perhaps its purest form mainly in Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden. Here the right has been won through practice over hundreds of years[1] and it is not known when it changed from common practise to become a commonly recognised right. It has in any place been in existence since before recorded history. The right existed for a long time only as a customary law, but has in recent years been established as written law.

A possible explanation as to why the right has survived mainly in these four countries is that feudalism and serfdom were not established there. In the rest of Europe most of the population was prohibited from leaving their farms at all. Removing the right to roam could have been a way of enforcing serfdom or it could have gradually gone out of practice as serfdom got more common in the middle ages.

One possible explanation for the origin of the convention can be found in that the right of appeal, in ancient times, included the opportunity of putting one's matter directly to the king. It was important that the ability to exercise this right could not be prohibited or prevented by material means, such as the ability to travel freely.

[edit] Recreation

The convention is today the basis for recreation in these of the Nordic countries, providing the possibility to hike or camp on someone else's land (e.g. in Sweden for one night, or "temporarily"), to travel by boat on somebody else's waters, and to pick the wildflowers, mushrooms and berries. However — with the rights follows the responsibility, i.e. the obligation to do no harm, not to disturb, not to litter, not to damage wildlife or crops. One should be out of sight from private homes.

Access does not cover operation of a motor vehicle, fishing, hunting, making a fire (in Finland you can, in most cases, build a fire in publicly, ie state, owned land, and in Sweden you can make a fire as long as you take proper safety precautions), or making noise. It is possible to put up a tent in the forest for one night per place, but not to spend the night in a caravan anywhere. The access under discussion does not extend to the built environment, such as houses, gardens, fields, or the like. Furthermore, access does not include commercial exploitation of the land. For example, getting workers to pick berries is legal only with the landowner's permit.

There are minor differences between the rules in the different countries. In Sweden exercising of the rights is overseen by the Swedish National Environmental Protection Agency - which can, for example, make the decision of force removal of a privately owned fence on private property if it would obstruct with peoples right to enter the property under 'allemansrätten' (see Swedish environmental law - 'Miljöbalken 26 kap. 11 §').
In northern Norway Cloudberries belong to the land owner. In Enontekiö, Finland, berry picking is excluded from the everyman's rights, and requires the landowner's permit, since it has commercial importance in that municipality.

[edit] Criticism

In recent years population growth has put strains on popular areas of hiking and increasing urbanisation has produced a large number of people who want to utilise nature for recreation, but who have limited knowledge on how to behave there. The strain this causes to nature and increased damage incurred by land owners is mainly due to lack of awareness of or breaking the trace-free travel rule.

The Convention on Biodiversity in Rio in the year 1992, subscribed by 189 countries, has expressed concern about the rights of unlimited access not only in temperate zones, but even more so in tropical forests, where slash and burn practises undermine biodiversity. Public access rights are attacked and limited in many countries' resulting Biodiversity Action Plans.

Critics of unlimited rights of access also assert that it is the governance and maintenance of property owners which fundamentally protects private property from damage; furthermore, critics assert that access should not necessarily be without compensation, just as government agencies allow but charge for access to many parklands.

[edit] Norway

Everyone in Norway enjoys the right of access to and passage through uncultivated land in the countryside. The right was codified in law in 1957 with the implementation of the Outdoor Recreation Act. It is based on respect for the countryside, and all visitors are expected to show consideration for farmers and landowners, other users and the environment. In Norway the terms utmark and innmark divide areas were the right is valid and where it is not. The law specifies innmark thoroughly, [2] all other areas are utmark. Utmark is generally speaking uninhabited and uncultivated areas and where the right is valid. Cultivated land may only be walked on when it is frozen and covered in snow.

In later years the right has come under pressure particularily in the Oslo Fjord and in popular areas of Southern Norway. These areas are popular sites for holiday homes and many owners of coastal land want to restrict public access to their property. As a general rule, building and partitioning of property is prohibited in the 100 m zone closest to the sea, but local authorities in many areas have made liberal use of their ability to grant exemptions from this rule. Even though a land owner has been permitted to build closer to the shore he can not restrict people from walking along the shore. Fences and other barriers erected to prevent public access are not permitted.

[edit] Specific rules

A place is to be left at least as tidy as when you arrived there. It is not allowed to leave permanent traces of one's presence or to be a nuisance to the land owner or other people. You are only allowed to walk or ski if travelling off tracks and roads. On tracks and roads cycling and riding is permitted. You are only allowed to pitch a tent at least 150 meters from a dwelling and only for two days without getting permission from the land owner. Kindling and firewood may be gathered from dead trees and branches, but felling of living trees is prohibited. Fires are not permitted in or near forests between 15 April and 15 September. You are not allowed to tear down fences and enclosures. The land owner is permitted to expel people who damage his property.

You are allowed to gather flowers, herbs, berries and mushrooms, but common sense dictates that it should not be for commercial purposes without getting permission from the land owner and that endangered species must be left in place. Nuts must be consumed on the spot. You are not allowed to remove rocks, firewood or peat. Some shores in Norway have deposits of large, round stones shaped by sea and ice for thousands of years. These are popular souvenirs for tourists and as a result many such deposits have been emptied.

You are allowed to go canoeing, kayaking, rowing and sailing in rivers and lakes and ocean, motorised boats are as a general rule only permitted in salt water. You are allowed to swim in all waters.

Hunting rights belong to the landowner, and thus hunting is not included in the right of free access. In freshwater areas such as rivers and lakes, the fishing rights belong to the landowner. Regardless of who owns the land, fresh-water fishing activities may only be conducted with the permission of the landowner or by those in possession of a fishing licence. In salt-water areas there is free access to sports fishing using boats or from the shoreline. All fishing is subject to legislation to among other things protect biological diversity, and this legislation stipulates rules regarding the use of gear, seasons, bag or size limits and more.

[edit] United Kingdom

In the United Kingdom feudalism was established and the absolute property right of the sovereign meant that all land was in some way owned by the Crown. The land owners had and still have a very strong position regarding their property rights. Even uncultivated land has been heavliy protected mostly to preserve the land owner's hunting or fishing rights. This in turn left the general public with little access to natural areas. Even popular sights such as Chrome Hill and Parkhouse Hill in the Peak District with very little economic interest to the owner has been out of access to the public.

The Ramblers' Association works to improve the rights of walkers in the United Kingdom and has been a driving force behind the recent legislation improving the public's access to the wilderness.

[edit] Scotland

In Scotland the Land Reform (Scotland) Act 2003 comprehensively codified into Scots law the ancient tradition of the right to universal access to the land in Scotland.

The rights confirmed in the Scottish legislation are greater than the limited rights of access, which were not present in English law previously, granted in England and Wales with the passing of the Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000. [3]

[edit] England and Wales

The Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000 was gradually implemented from 2000 onwards in order to give the general public the conditional right to walk in certain areas of the English and Welsh countryside.

Traditionally the public could walk on established public footpaths and land owners could charge a fee if people wanted to gain access to any other areas.

Angling interests successfully lobbied for the exclusion of rivers in England and Wales from CROW, leaving other river users such as swimmers and canoeists with restricted access to less than 2% of navigable water. The British Canoe Union is running the Rivers Access Campaign, to highlight the level of restrictions the public face in gaining access to inland waterways in England and Wales.

The law is being implemented gradually both in terms of area and provisions. Specific maps showing which areas are covered by the law have to be made, not all rights are being implemented at the same time and special terms are sometimes applied. Because of this many uncultivated areas of England and Wales are not public access.

The opposition to the law has been high and many arguments concern the owner's property rights. It diminishes the owner's ability to earn money from his property as entrance fees are not allowed. Many areas of countryside are not strictly wilderness or nature as it has been reshaped by man over many years. The land owner might even have facilitated the ability to walk in an area which might otherwise have been inaccessible because of natural features.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Caplex article (Norwegian)
  2. ^ ”gårdsplass, hustomt, dyrket mark, engslått, kulturbeite og skogplantefelt og liknende områder hvor allmennhetens ferdsel vil være til utilbørlig fortrengsel for eier eller bruker. Udyrkede, mindre grunnstykker som ligger i dyrket mark eller engslått eller er gjerdet inn sammen med slikt område, regnes også som innmark. Det samme gjelder områder for industrielt eller annen særlig øyemed hvor allmennhetens ferdsel vil være til utilbørlig fortrengsel for eier, bruker eller andre.”
  3. ^ Countryside and Rights of Way Act 2000: Fact Sheets. Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (2000-03-07). Retrieved on 2006-12-09.
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