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The UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) was launched in 1994 as a means of meeting the UK's obligations under the Biodiversity Convention (signed by the UK and over a hundred other countries at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992) to "develop national strategies, plans or programmes for the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity". The aim of the UKBAP was to establish a strategic framework for biodiversity conservation and enhancement in the UK. The Plan recognises that in order to fulfil our global commitments, biodiversity action planning has to be strategic and be driven locally as well as nationally.
In order to focus conservation effort on the habitat and species of most concern the UK Biodiversity Steering Group recognised the need to identify a set of habitats and species that were 'priorities' for nature conservation. These 'priority' habitats and species were chosen using rigorous selection criteria and are amongst the most rare and threatened in the UK.
Therefore, the UKBAP contains Habitat Action Plans (HAPs) and Species Action Plans (SAPs) which set out targets for maintaining and increasing population range and/or size of the particular habitat or species and a list of actions to be implemented to support these targets. The action plans also set a time-scale for completion of targets and where possible are costed. These national action plans provide the lead for biodiversity conservation in the UK.
However, to work, these plans need to be taken forward both nationally and locally. Therefore, the targets of the national Action Plans are translated locally in Local Biodiversity Action Plans (LBAPs).
A Biodiversity Action Plan for Gloucestershire
"The purpose of LBAP's is to focus resources to conserve and enhance biodiversity by means of local partnerships, taking account of both national and local priorities".
Biodiversity: the UK Steering Group Report - Meeting the Rio Challenge, 1995
The UKBAP cannot be delivered successfully unless national targets and actions are translated into effective local action through LBAP's. The function of an LBAP is not just to reflect national targets, but to also include targets that reflect the values of local people, which are based on the range of local conditions, thereby catering for local distinctiveness.
LBAP's differ from former approaches of tackling biodiversity conservation in two important ways:
- They are prepared by a wide partnership of interested individuals and organisations
- They follow a very disciplined approach to auditing, target setting and reporting
The Biodiversity Action Plan for Gloucestershire (2000) was published as a strategic document that identifies the most urgent priorities for wildlife conservation in the county.
A Local Delivery Plan for Biodiversity:
a new framework for delivering Priority Habitats and Species in Gloucestershire
Why the need for a new framework?
Until now (2010) conservation through the biodiversity action plan (BAP) process has been largely site based and focused on separate HAP’s and SAP’s. The need to maintain, restore and create habitats was well recognised within individual plans, but there was no focused or truly spatial approach. Despite some progress in implementing single action plans, we have failed to halt the loss of biodiversity in the County. Reversing biodiversity loss now requires us to adopt an integrated landscape-scale approach to delivery, that restores whole ecosystems to secure a healthy natural environment for Gloucestershire.
The Local Biodiversity Partnership has developed a 50 year vision for delivering a new County LBAP through a focus on Strategic Nature Areas (SNAs) which go to make up the Gloucestershire Nature Map. SNAs provide a targeted approach to conserving biodiversity at a landscape-scale and also help us to adapt to climate change. The SNAs identify where the greatest opportunities for habitat restoration and creation lie, enabling the efficient delivery of resources to where they will have the greatest positive conservation impact.
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The Action Plan
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Introduction
