The Berkshire Local Nature Partnership will assist England in achieving its target of halting the loss to our biodiversity (nature), by working at a local level to identify and implement opportunities to protect our natural environment. The Berkshire Biodiversity Strategy incorporates aspects of targets from the England Biodiversity strategy, which we can achieve here in Berkshire.
The Berkshire Biodiversity Strategy
The Natural Environment in Berkshire: Biodiversity Strategy 2014 - 2020 is available to download now by clicking here.
This report is both a statement of the current state of nature in Berkshire and a strategy for protecting and enhancing our natural environment.
You can help us in recording Berkshire progress towards these targets by keeping us informed of any nature conservation work that you carry out in the county.
England Biodiversity Strategy:
History
The UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) was the UK national biodiversity strategy, prepared in response to the Earth Summit and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992. Part of it was a description of the UK biological resources and an outline of how to conserve them.
UK BAP priority species and habitats were identified as those that were the most threatened and required conservation action. The original lists of UK BAP priority species and habitats were created between 1995-1999, and subsequently updated in 2007.
As biodiversity policies have evolved at a national and international level and following devolution in 1998, priorities have shifted away from the UK BAP. England biodiversity strategy is now set out in Biodiversity 2020: A strategy for Englands wildlife and ecosystem services, which was published by Defra in August 2011.
Targets
Four areas are targeted for action in the Strategy in order to halt the loss of England biodiversity by 2020 and to contribute to international commitments. These are:
• A more integrated large-scale approach to conservation on land and at sea;
• Putting people at the heart of biodiversity policy;
• Reducing environmental pressures; and
• Improving our knowledge.
Although national priorities have developed and shifted away from the UK BAP, the focus on certain species and habitats remains. The UK BAP lists of priority species and habitats were used to draw up the Section 41 list of species and habitats of principal importance in England.