Comment by no_wizard
24 days ago
I think societies should and will need to get used to either forcibly doing these environmental restoration projects despite other objections and/or paying people out to remove land owner interests.
Climate change doesn’t care about whether you own the land or not, it will inevitably lead to more problems for everyone. Anything that helps mitigate this needs to be actively considered
Totally agree. But if we believe in property protection, we shouldn't steal those rights though.
Any temporary payment will not be trusted, since future governments can undo it.
The government should buy the land, and the rights, at full market value, discounted by the value of a new perpetual right to graze what is left after the flooding. Peat bogs are also the best carbon sinks we have, aren't they?
One interesting part of this, is that there are plans to reforest some of these areas (which were deforested perhaps 1000 years ago), and the main opposition to that is from the general public, who like to look at the hills as they are! People are complex...
The government doesn't even have to buy the land outright, just give them a one time payment to turn part of their land into a bog. Now they own bogland which is less useful, but the reduced value of the property was paid for.