| To download a copy of the full UKBAP report and threatened species and habitats lists click here |
Thursday 7 June 2007
Today a broad partnership of Government Bodies and Wildlife Charities unveiled the new UK list of Priority Species and Habitats.
All 1,149 species listed are declining rapidly in the UK, are internationally endangered, or are under some other extreme threat. In addition 65 habitats have been listed as being highly threatened and in desperate need of conservation action.
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| New conservation priority: the Iron blue mayfly (Nigrobaetis niger ) has been added to the new UKBAP list © Stuart Crofts |
The new list is the result of over two years work involving 500 wildlife experts and over £600,000 worth of voluntary work. Buglife played an important role in helping to coordinate the input of over 200 invertebrate specialists.
The lists contain many well established conservation priorities such as the Salmon, Bittern, Lady’s slipper orchid and Otter. But the international Biodiversity Convention requires the UK to look after all life, as a result there are now 430 bugs (invertebrates) on the list, including the Golden lantern-spider, Minutest diving beetle, Iron blue mayfly, Distinguished jumper, Wormwood moonshiner, Fancy-legged fly, Blue plunderer, English assassin fly and the Mud snail.
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| Distinguished: the Distinguished jumper spider (Sitticus distinguendus) is only known from two sites in the UK © Peter Harvey |
The list of species and habitats has enhanced significance as all public office holders now have a duty to have a regard for conserving biodiversity in undertaking their duties.
Defining how well species and habitats are doing; setting out the priorities and targets for endangered wildlife; and then monitoring the results is the basis for a strong approach to looking after British wildlife. The Biodiversity Action Plan has enabled everyone from Government Departments to Wildlife Charities and independent experts to get together and agree what needs to happen for British wildlife. We can now monitor how well they are being looked after. Worryingly after 10 years of the UK BAP process only 11% of listed species are increasing compared to 28% of the species which are declining.
"Bugs are in severe trouble in the countryside, so we welcome the new Priority list. It is the product of some amazing work and redefines the conservation priorities that must be addressed,” said Matt Shardlow, Director of Buglife – The Invertebrate Conservation Trust. “The Biodiversity Action Plan is a model partnership between Government and Wildlife Charities which forms the basis for establishing what everyone needs to do to reverse the dramatic declines in wildlife and ensuring that in the future there are more wild places and amazing animals for our children to enjoy and to benefit from.”
For more information and a copy of the list please contact:- Matt Shardlow 01733 201210 07921 700151 or email jamie.roberts@buglife.org.uk.
Notes for Editors
Scientific names - Golden lantern-spider (Agroeca cuprea); Minutest diving beetle (Bidessus minutissimus); Distingushed jumper (Sitticus distinguendus); Wormwood moonshiner (Amara fusca); the Fancy-legged fly (Campsicnemus magius); the Blue plunderer (Lebia cyanocephala); Iron blue mayfly (Nigrobaetis niger), English assassin fly (Empis limata), and the Mud snail (Omphiscola glabra).
The Statutory Biodiversity Duty was introduced in Scotland in the 2004 Nature Conservation Act and in England and Wales by the 2006 Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act.
The UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) was produced in 1994 as the UK’s response to meeting the targets set out in the international Biodiversity Convention (1992). This is the first complete revision of the 577 Priority species that have been listed as requiring conservation action.
