What is the UK BAP?

• County, regional and local BAPs

What is the UK BAP?

The UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) was produced by the Government in 1994 to ensure that the diverse wildlife (biodiversity) of our islands is conserved for the future.

'Biodiversity: the UK Action Plan' set up a process for taking forward biodiversity conservation in the UK. 

The BAP process takes a two-pronged approach to halting the decline of biodiversity. The first is conservation action to help protect species and habitats identified as most at risk from extinction. The second is to develop and influence the government policies that affect the state of biodiversity in the UK.

Biodiversity conservation

There are five key aspects to the UK approach to species and habitat conservation:

• Audit: the current state of UK biodiversity has been described, based on best available current data, and placed in the wider international context.
• Priorities: species and habitats that are the highest priority for conservation action have been identified using objective criteria. This approach acknowledges that resources are limited and time is short - choices have to be made. Top priority are those species at most risk from extinction: the 'globally threatened species'. The UK species and habitat priorities are currently being reviewed and a new list should be available towards the end of 2006. 
• Objectives and targets: UK conservation objectives and targets have been set for specific priority species and habitats. They are defined in terms of the desired biological result: the 'end' point against which progress can be measured.
• Action plans: have been prepared which set out the work that must be undertaken to achieve the stated objective. They each contain a list of threats to the species or habitat, a statement of the biological objectives, and specific actions to be implemented. A total of 391 Species Action Plans and 45 Habitat Action Plans have been agreed and published by Government between 1995 and 1999. These represent the priority species and priority habitats for conservation effort at the UK level. A 'Lead Partner' (for Species Action Plans) or a statutory 'Lead Agency' (for Habitat Action Plans) has been allocated to catalyse plan implementation and reporting. The RSPB has been chosen to take on this role for most priority bird species as well as some plants and invertebrates. For more information, please see Priority species for the RSPB link on this page.
• Monitor and review: should provide essential information necessary to assess progress on targets, action and the deployment of resources. The UK Biodiversity Group carried out its first review of progress on biodiversity action plans in 1999 and this was summarised in 'Sustaining the variety of life: 5 years of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan' which was published in March 2001. The most recent review of progress took place in late 2005 and the results are available from the UK BAP website.           

Influencing government policies

A vital step is to identify, from the plans, the range of issues that affect the state of UK biodiversity. Some areas of government policy, such as those for agriculture, fisheries, forestry, water and transport, have profound impacts on biodiversity and must be influenced if conservation goals are to be attained. These issues should be addressed through the implementation of Country Biodiversity Strategies (see Country, regional and local BAPs page)

This approach has been taken in the firm belief that by setting clear measurable targets for nature conservation, carefully planning action, monitoring progress and revising action accordingly we can look after the UK's biodiversity to best effect. 

This will benefit wildlife but also the millions of people whose lives are enriched by the UK's biological diversity. The RSPB has been a key advocate of this approach to the conservation of biodiversity through its own biodiversity policy work and participation in the Wildlife and Countryside Link Biodiversity Task Force.

BAPs are not an alternative to the conservation of important places for wildlife through site protection legislation. Neither does support for the BAP exclude effort to conserve biodiversity at a landscape or ecosystem level (the ecosystem approach).

Instead they provide a vital framework against which the success of such measures can be assessed.

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