looking for water voles
Avon's Biodiversity
Biodiversity is a term used to describe the variety
of life on earth. Despite its large urban population, Avon has a rich
and diverse range of wildlife, and retains a significant proportion of
the UK's overall resource of important wildlife sites, habitats and species.
For example it has important populations of Lesser and Greater Horse shoe
bats, water voles and dormice, and internationally important habitats
such as the Severn estuary that support populations of wild birds that
are of European importance. However, there have been significant declines
in some habitats and species in past years and much of our wildlife is
still under threat.
At the National, Regional and local level UK conservation organisations
and partnerships are conserving and enhancing biodiversity through drawing
up and implementing Biodiversity Action Plans (BAPs). Each plan sets out
a series of actions which need to be taken to ensure that the decline
of a species is stopped and its situation improved within a number of
years.
Conservation at the National level - The UK BAP and England Biodiversity
Strategy
The UK Government is committed to a UK BAP with 391 Species Action Plans,
and 45 Habitat Action Plans
Conservation at the Regional level - The SW Regional
Biodiversity Partnership
The South West region has a strong and active partnership and promotes
and enables the delivery of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan through regional
and local biodiversity action in line with the England Biodiversity Strategy
Conservation at the Local level - The Avon Biodiversity
Action Plan
There are 162 Local Biodiversity Action Plans with targeted actions. The
Avon Biodiversity Action Plan is the first over-arching conservation strategy
for the former county of Avon. It was formally launched in 2004 and has
a ten year timescale. The BAP identifies and targets what need to happen
for Avon’s most valuable habitats and species and for cross-cutting
issues such as education over the next ten years. The Partnership is supported
by a full-time Biodiversity Co-ordinator, Matthew Hamilton, and is chaired
by English Nature. Through Focus group meetings a number of important
projects have been identified to meet BAP targets.
The main aims are to:
- Champion and promote local biodiversity and its distinctiveness;
- Implement actions in order to achieve the objectives and meet the targets outlined in the Avon BAP
- Facilitate communication and sharing of best-practice and skills;
- Seek opportunities for joint projects where possible;
- Monitor biodiversity and biodiversity action;
- Report back annually on its achievements.
The Partnership’s vision for Avon
A landscape rich in wildlife, where species and habitats are part of healthy, functioning ecosystems that are well-managed and valued by everyone; where conservation of biodiversity is integrated with social, cultural and economic activities.
Visit our website to find out more:
Avon
Biodiversity Action Plan
Severn Walks
Download a PDF guide here
Links to the Avon Biodiversity Partnership Partnership Steering Group Members
Bath
and North East Somerset Council
Bristol
Regional Environmental Records Centre
Other
Partnership Members
Avon
Reptile and Amphibian Group
Bristol
Museum and Art Gallery
British
Association of Shooting and Conservation
BTCV
(formerly British Trust for Conservation Volunteers)
Farming and Wildlife Advisory Group
North
Somerset Levels and Moors Project
Other links
