Memorandum 5
Supplementary evidence from the Joint
Nature Conservation Committee
INTRODUCTION
This supplementary written evidence is provided
for further clarification and elaboration of the oral evidence
provided by Dr Andrew Stott during the committee session on Wednesday
17 June.
REVIEW OF
SSSI SELECTION GUIDELINES
JNCC agrees that the site selection guidance
remains broadly fit for purpose, and underpins UK implementation
of the EC Habitats and Birds Directives but needs updating to
take into account changes in governance, legislation and wider
approaches to conservation being developed within the UK Biodiversity
Action Plan and country biodiversity strategies. Parts A and B
of the guidance, which set out the rationale and principles for
site identification require revision to capture the changes in
law, administration and practice due to devolution and also to
address changes in terms of the purpose of the network, particularly
with regards to ecological coherence and its importance in dealing
with the impact of climate change.
The specific guidance on most terrestrial and
freshwater habitats and taxonomic groups is still applicable.
Some minor revisions and additions are required eg for pool frog,
bog woodland and some other habitats. As part of this ongoing
revision process, new guidelines for selection of sites for grassland
fungi will be published by JNCC on 26 June. Whilst it is
acknowledged that some of the data used to set thresholds and
scales is out of date, in practice the agencies exercise their
own judgement in the application of the guidance, taking account
of more recent data.
Under the Marine Bill (England and Wales) there
are provisions regarding the overlap between SSSIs which include
sub-tidal land and Marine Conservation Zones. Draft guidance has
been produced which includes sections on SSSI notifications within
estuaries and inter-tidal areas; existing SSSIs extending beyond
mean low water, and de-notifications. The proposed provisions
and implications with regard to the SSSI Selection Guidelines
need to be clarified.
The Joint Committee agreed at its meeting on
22 June 2009 that whilst the priority of work to revise
the SSSI selection guidelines varied between country conservation
bodies, this should be given a higher priority within JNCC. The
resource requirements and options for delivering this, and other
high priority work to establish UK-wide conservation standards,
should be reported back to the next meeting of the Joint Committee
in September.
JNCC ROLE IN
MONITORING AND
SURVEILLANCE OF
TERRESTRIAL AND
FRESHWATER BIODIVERSITY
JNCC provides common standards for monitoring
and surveillance where these are required by EU Directives, or
UK and international policy. JNCC also has a role in co-ordinating
monitoring strategy terrestrially under the remit of the UK Biodiversity
Standing Committee and as a contribution to the UK Environmental
Research Funders Forum—Environmental Observation Framework.
JNCC has a terrestrial and freshwater surveillance
programme which invests £1 million annually into schemes
designed to detect change relevant to biodiversity objectives
in birds, mammals, butterflies and to a much lesser extent plants
and other invertebrates. The JNCC funds partnerships with the
voluntary sector and NERC Centre for Ecology and Hydrology to
deliver high quality survey work using an extensive network of
volunteers. These surveillance schemes include SSSIs and other
designated areas but are not limited to them.
The biodiversity surveillance strategy aims
to optimise investments by JNCC and other funders to meet four
main requirements:
(i) to access progress towards biodiversity strategy
goals (eg: halting the loss of biodiversity) and identify the
constraints (pressures) preventing their achievement:
(ii) to measure and provide feedback into various
policy mechanisms (eg SSSI designation, agri-environment schemes
etc) designed to help achieve strategy objectives;
(iii) to ensure that legal (and policy) obligations
for surveillance and monitoring, or for reporting are adequately
supported; and,
(iv) to provide the data for modelling that allows
prediction of future trends and evaluation of policy options.
June 2009
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