Nature conservation mapped
24 July 2010
A country-wide survey of those areas of Britain where conservation and the landscape comes first has begun in an effort to protect the country's biodiversity.
Over the next year, the UK branch of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is gathering information from government bodies, local authorities, private and voluntary organisations to identify places dedicated and managed for the long-term conservation of nature.
"This is not being done as a stamp-collecting exercise," says IUCN-UK chairman Chris Mahon. "It will form the backbone of future nature conservation efforts in a much more dynamic way."
Although there are many areas of the UK which are protected by legislation, such as National Parks or Sites of Special Scientific Interest, there are others which owe their protection to voluntary organisations and charities, such as nature reserves. However, there's currently no central record either of protected areas or the management priorities of those who run them. The IUCN describes the current situation as a 'complex patchwork' of places and says not enough is known about the overall picture nationally.
By the end of the project, known as 'Putting Nature on the Map', the IUCN hopes to have a complete digital mapped record of the land and sea areas in the UK where nature and landscape are given priority, providing a valuable tool for conservationists planning strategies for land use and mitigating the effects of climate change.
The information will be available nationally and internationally through the website of the Cambridge-based UNEP World Conservation Monitoring Centre from late next year.
More about the UK branch of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN)