Archived May 2002
JNCC advice to DETR on species legislation
The following paper is the advice given to the Department of
the Environment, Transport and the Regions (DETR) in December 1999
(before the publication of the Wildlife Bill), on behalf of the
statutory conservation agencies, concerning the effectiveness of
species protection legislation in Britain. This paper contains
background briefing, advice on species protection issues and
includes six main recommendations. The advice is supported by
additional recommendations, which are intended to improve the
operation of wildlife legislation by clarifying wording and by
reconciling differences between the Habitats Regulations 1994 and
the Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981.
Contact point:
Dr Ian McLean
Head of Species Advice
E-mail:
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document.
List of main
recommendations
Recommendation 1: In relation
to specially-protected species listed on Schedules 1, 5 and 8 of
the Wildlife and Countryside Act, the word 'intentionally' where it
occurs be replaced by the words 'intentionally, knowingly or
negligently'.
Recommendation 2: The country
agencies be given an enabling power to enter into Management
Agreements outside SSSIs where this is necessary for the purposes
of nature conservation.
Recommendation 3: The
Secretary of State, and the National Assembly for Wales, be given
the power to make an Order which prevents any person from carrying
out an activity on land specified in the Order which is likely to
cause harm to a species listed on Schedules 1, 5 or 8 of the 1981
Act, or to their Habitats, without consent. This legal provision
could exempt actions undertaken with the benefit of planning
consent, or which were undertaken in an emergency. Land damaged in
contravention of such an Order could be made subject to a
restoration provision.
Recommendation 4: The next
Quinquennial Review should take into account the number of species
to be included on Schedules 5 and 8 in relation to the other
mechanisms now available for conserving species (including Action
Plans prepared in order to implement the Convention on Biological
Diversity in the United Kingdom) and in relation to the
desirability of maintaining awareness of which species are
protected. At the same time the benefits of legal protection should
be retained for those species liable to persecution.
Recommendation 5: Section 14
of the Wildlife and Countryside Act, 1981 should be amended to make
it an offence to release, allow to escape, or cause to grow in the
wild, any plant or micro-organism which is not ordinarily resident
in, or a regular visitor to, Great Britain in a wild state.
Provided such action was not undertaken recklessly, we would exempt
from this provision plants grown for agriculture, horticulture,
forestry or in gardens and micro-organisms used for specified
purposes (for example, medicine, veterinary medicine, brewing and
food processing).
Recommendation 6: We would
propose that Schedule 9 Part II be made available for listing of
specified micro-organisms (as well as plants), where such listing
is necessary for protecting the environment, and that the sale of
plants and micro-organisms listed on Schedule 9 Part II be
prohibited except under licence.
For more information on the
Countryside and Rights of Way Bill or the statutory conservation
agencies