Over the last 60 years, there has been a major reduction in
the extent of semi-natural habitat and in the populations of many
species of plants and animals in the United Kingdom as a result
primarily of: the intensification of agriculture, the
commercialisation of forestry, the expansion of urban areas and
transport infrastructure, air pollution and the nutrient enrichment
of many of the rivers and lakes. Many of the same pressures
have been experienced in other parts of Europe.
Over the same period, the UK has taken conservation action to
mitigate this general decline in biodiversity through the
establishment of a substantial network of protected areas, and has
brought in measures to protect species populations from
unsustainable exploitation. The resources available to underpin and
support this effort over much of this period have been limited, but
over the last 15 years or so resources have been significantly
increased and legal protection enhanced. In addition, action
has been taken, in response to the UK's international obligations
under the United Kingdom Biodiversity Action Plan, to support the
recovery of many of the habitats and species which were,
nationally, under most threat.
The UK's protected areas programme includes work to identify,
protect and conserve National Nature Reserves, Sites of Special
Scientific Interest (Areas of Special Scientific Interest in
Northern Ireland) and other protected wildlife areas. The United
Kingdom has instituted a monitoring programme using common
standards to assess the condition of these protected areas. The
report on the first six-year round of this
monitoring was published by JNCC in 2006.
Recognising the declines in biodiversity which had taken place
in the latter part of the 20th century throughout Europe, the
European Community, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, identified
habitats and species considered to be under threat within the areas
of the Community as a whole. In 1994, the
EC Habitats Directive came into force. It
requires Member States to take conservation measures in relation to
these threatened habitats and species, to undertake surveillance in
relation to them, and, every six years, to report on the outcome of
these measures on their conservation status. For some of the
listed habitats and species, the Directive
requires Member States to designate
Special Areas of Conservation (SACs). For
some of the listed species, the Directive does not require SACs to
be established, but requires Member States to take other
measures.
The United Kingdom has designated the network of Special Areas
of Conservation required by the Habitats Directive, adding them to
its existing protected sites network. These sites, together
with
Special Protection Areas classified under the
EC Birds Directive, form the network of European
sites known as Natura 2000. Most of these sites are supported by
being also designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest. The
United Kingdom has also implemented the species protection measures
required by the Directive.
The Habitats Directive defines when the conservation status of
the habitats and species it lists is to be considered as
favourable. The definitions it uses for this are specific to
the Directive; in summary, they require that the range and areas of
the listed habitats, and the range and population of the listed
species, should be at least maintained at their status when the
Directive came into force in 1994 or, where the 1994 status was not
viable in the long term, to be restored to a position where it
would be viable. The habitats and species were listed in the
Directive because they were considered to be under threat in the
European Community as a whole, it is to be expected that, prior to
the Directive coming into force in 1994, their conservation status
would be unfavourable. The six-yearly reports required by the
Habitats Directive are intended to track improvement in the
conservation status of these habitats and species since that
time.
Links to further information