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Photographs in this section have been contributed by English Nature, RSPB, Environment Agency, English Heritage and National Trust. Copyright retained.
SW BIODIVERSITY AUDIT 1998
The SW Biodiversity Partnership have produced a biodiversity audit and action plans for the South West. Included in OUR SW is part of the audit and action plans concerning the main wildlife species and habitats that are specific or are of particular importance to the South West.
The South West is still richly endowed with wildlife habitats, supporting a great variety of plants and animals ("biodiversity"). They underpin the region's landscapes, heritage, tourism, farming and industries. Yet pressures on them, and thus the need to conserve and enhance them, are everywhere increasing and if future development is to be "sustainable" then appropriate protection of our biodiversity resource is essential.
The Global and National Commitment
This first ever regional audit and action plans have been produced in the light of developments at a global and national level, with the Government signing up to the Biodiversity Convention at the Rio Earth Summit of 1992 and publishing the national Biodiversity Action Plan report in December 1995.
The South West Audit and Action Plans
The audit sets out the key habitats and species in the South West representing the counties of Avon, Cornwall (including the Isles of Scilly), Devon, Dorset, Gloucestershire, Somerset, and Wiltshire.
It has been produced by a partnership of the RSPB, the 7 Wildlife Trusts, the Environment Agency, English Nature and the Environment Sub-Group of the South West Regional Planning Conference with significant contributions of time and expertise from a wide range of bodies and individuals.
It lists the main habitats and the species under threat. Included here are the descriptions of the main habitats and the species under threat and where appropriate targets and conservation strategies.
INTRODUCTION
The South West of England has for generations been celebrated for its coasts and countryside which in turn support a diversity of habitats and species of wild plants and animals unlikely to be matched anywhere else in the UK. This audit is an initiative that begins to quantify this impressive and essential part of our natural heritage.
Biodiversity - what is it?
Wildlife conservation is about more than simply the protection of a few colourful and attractive animals and plants. Its full scale and complexity has begun to be demonstrated by the use of a new term, biodiversity, to describe its subject matter. Biodiversity, which simply means the diversity of biological life, refers to the huge variation we see in the natural world around us, not just between species but also in genetics, habitats and landscapes - in other words, the whole variety of life. It is that variety and richness which nature conservation seeks to safeguard.