Environmentally Sensitive Area

Scheme introduced by the UK Ministry of Agriculture in 1984, as a result of European Community (EC) legislation, to protect some of the most beautiful areas of the UK countryside from the loss and damage caused by agricultural change. The first areas to be designated ESAs were in the Pennine Dales, the North Peak District, the Norfolk Broads, the Breckland, the Suffolk River Valleys, the Test Valley, the South Downs, the Somerset Levels and Moors, West Penwith, Cornwall, the Shropshire Borders, the Cambrian Mountains, and the Lleyn Peninsula.

The total area designated as ESAs was estimated in 2003 to be 571,520 hectares/1,278,300 acres. The scheme is voluntary, with farmers being encouraged to adapt their practices so as to enhance or maintain the natural features of the landscape and conserve wildlife habitat. A farmer who joins the scheme agrees to manage the land in this way for at least five years. In return, the Ministry of Agriculture pays the farmer a sum that reflects the financial losses incurred as a result of reconciling conservation with commercial farming.