Prioritising surveillance using a risk-based approach

There are many species that are not well covered by the large scale surveillance schemes designed to fulfil the requirements of Objective One in the Surveillance Strategy. Additional surveillance may have to be commissioned in order to fulfil reporting obligations (relevant for Objective Three), or more generally to measure their status. With limited numbers of recorders and limited financial resources it is necessary to design this additional surveillance as efficiently as possible, so that species most likely to be declining are surveyed most frequently. This paper was designed as a tool to help those commissioning and designing surveillance prioritise additional surveillance of species using a risk-based approach. In this way surveillance can be implemented where it is most needed in a cost effective manner.

This paper was recently used to help assess species surveillance needs for UK BAP Priority species and for species included in the Annexes of the Habitats Directive.