Biodiversité

Achieving the goal to protect 30% of UK land and seas for nature by 2030.This report from the British Ecological Society (published 22 April 2022) examines the Prime Minister’s pledge to protect 30% of UK land and seas by 2030 to support nature recovery.

Marine Management Organisation (MMO) launches formal consultation seeking views on proposals to manage activity in four of England’s offshore Marine Protected Areas (MPAs)

Marine protected areas, or MPAs as they’re more commonly called, are very simple. Areas of the sea are set aside where certain activities – usually fishing – are banned or restricted. Ideally, these MPAs might be placed around particularly vibrant habitats that support lots of different species, like seagrass beds or coral reefs. By preventing fishing gear such as towed seabed trawls from sweeping through these environments, the hope is that marine life will be allowed to recover.

When used well, they can be very effective.

This report has been commissioned through CREW and written by staff from The James Hutton Institute. It represents a collaboration between a range of organisations in the UK and Ireland: Scottish Natural Heritage, Scottish Environment Protection Agency, Environment Agency (England), Northern Ireland Environment Agency, Rivers Agency (Northern Ireland), Natural England, Natural Resources Wales, Loughs Agency (NI), Office of Public Works (Republic of Ireland), Inland Fisheries Ireland, and the River Restoration Centre.

The MAGIC website provides authoritative geographic information about the natural environment from across government.  The information covers rural, urban, coastal and marine environments across Great Britain.  It is presented in an interactive map which can be explored using various mapping tools that are included.  Natural England manages the service under the direction of a Steering Group who represent the MAGIC partnership organisations.

The latest State of Nature Report rings yet another alarm bell on the biodiversity crisis in the UK, showing major declines in many species since monitoring began in 1970. Since this date, species have declined by 19% on average and one in six are now at risk of being lost in the UK.

Les aires marines protégées ont un rôle à jouer dans la lutte contre le réchauffement climatique. C'est ce que soutiennent la France, le Chili, le Costa Rica, le Royaume-Uni et les Etats-Unis. Le 2 juin dernier, l'Office français de la biodiversité a annoncé un partenariat international entre les agences de protection du milieu marin de ces cinq pays. Le but ? Promouvoir les aires marines protégées comme des outils de lutte contre le changement climatique auprès des dirigeants mondiaux. Il s'agit de l'international partnership on MPAs, biodiversity and climate change.

The naturalist uses a UN event to call on world leaders to do more to protect nature.

Craig Bennett, chief executive of The Wildlife Trusts, said "a much greater level of urgent action" was needed to put nature into recovery, including rescuing wildlife sites currently in decline.

The government figure of 26% includes national parks and areas of outstanding natural beauty (AONBs), which are more about how our landscape looks as opposed to the state of nature within them, he said.

He told BBC News: "The reality is, at best what's being managed for nature at the moment is only 10%. Even according to the government's own advisers on nature, they say half of that is in a poor condition, so it's nearer 5%. We've got a mountain to climb if we're really going to put nature into recovery in this country and reach the Prime Minister's target by 2030."

Richard Primack elaborates on this selection with: “In the United Kingdom, strategies to protect endangered species of plants and animals are more effective when climate change is included as a factor in habitat management.”