There is a commonly held myth in the UK that big landowners can be trusted to look after the land.

A new book, the Lie of the Land , from environmentalist Guy Shrubsole (published by William Collins), explodes this myth, calling for much of the land to be taken back into public ownership. 

There are telling statistics - just 5% of the land is taken for private homes and gardens. A further 73% is farmland and 10% forestry.

Agriculture contributes 11% of UK carbon emissions.

Shrubsole asserts that the "biggest drivers of biodiversity loss are agriculture, forestry and shooting”.

He chronicles the damage done to peat on the uplands by grouse shoots.

Huge amounts of CO2 have been released through mismanagement, involving the draining and burning of the peat-heavy areas. All, to satisfy the needs of game birds.

There are some shocking statistics, such as that 50 million pheasants are released to be shot each year by landowners - more than the total breeding biomass of the entire UK wild bird population. 

Paul Donovan says that land mismanagement is causing huge releases of CO2Paul Donovan says that land mismanagement is causing huge releases of CO2 The author charts the draining of the Fens in Cambridgeshire, initially by 13 landowning venture capitalists, converting it from wetlands to farming land. There has been a huge release of CO2 as a subsequence.

Shrubsole claims that the funds given to private landowners (£9.2 billion in the last 30 years), in the name of stewardship, to look after and improve the land, have been largely wasted. It would be better spent on buying the land outright and bringing it into the public estate.

The author draws inspiration from Scotland, where the Land Reform Act enshrines the community's right to buy. When land becomes available, community bodies can register an interest. They, then have eight months to raise the funds but can also draw on a Community Fund.

Shrubsole concludes with a 10-point plan of action. The plan includes taking back control of the peat soils of the uplands, presently emitting 3.4 million tonnes of CO2 annually. This includes banning moorland burning and outlawing driven grouse shooting. Shrubsole believes rewilding the uplands would substantially cut CO2 emissions.

He writes, "The public needs to be able to assert that some parts of our land - our most important carbon stores, our most precious ecosystems - have to be managed for the common good, rather than trashed for private gain”.

There are some important lessons for us in this area, where the ongoing pressure on biodiversity continues to grow. More public ownership could liberate these lands for nature and a better, greener future.