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A Flying Start: Local Biodiversity Action Plans in Scotland

Headline Achievements

Audits and plans produced in many areas

• Audits produced and launched in Cairngorms, North East Scotland, Stirling and many other areas.
• Launch of Edinburgh Biodiversity Action Plan, over 100 actions already underway involving 45 partners.
• Highland produce an innovative audit of the use of local biodiversity.
• Fife Nature's Endangered Plants Project to draft 25 vascular plant SAPs.
• The North East Scotland LBAP first 10 plans launched and distributed to local libraries and all those involved.

Websites, leaflets and events publicise the LBAPs

• Edinburgh LBAP available on the 'CapInfo' website at www.edinburgh.gov.uk.
• Glasgow City Council 's Wildlife CD ROM incorporated into the Council's Wildlife Web Page wildlife.glasgow.gov.uk/biomain.htm.
• The NE Biodiversity website is up and running at www.abdn.ac.uk/biodiversity.
• Joint website launched for Orkney Community Biodiversity project and Orkney Biodiversity Records Centre at www.orkney.com/cbp.
• Biodiversity leaflets produced in many areas including Orkney, Argyll and Bute, Falkirk, Stirling, Tayside and North Lanarkshire
• A monthly column in the Orcadian keeps Orkney LBAP in the public eye.

Surveys help to find out more about local biodiversity

• Local priority habitats mapped for the region on GIS (Dumfries & Galloway).
• Surveys of local priorities underway in many areas such as dragonfly and butterfly surveys (West Lothian), small pearl-bordered fritillary butterfly (City of Glasgow), great crested newts, spring woodland wildflower and breeding waders (North Lanarkshire), shingle, juniper and corn bunting (Dumfries & Galloway), otters, tree sparrow and harvest mouse (City of Edinburgh), species-rich grassland (North East Scotland).
• Training days run for volunteers who want to get involved in surveying (City of Edinburgh)

Records Centres provide a focus for information

• Local Biological Records Centre now holds over 100,000 computerised records (City of Glasgow).
• Exploring funding and format of Environmental Resource Centre based on aerial mapping of the region (Dumfries & Galloway).
• North East Scotland Biological records centre launched in 2000 works closely with LBAP providing information for planners.

KEY POINTS

• Before you can do anything you need to know what is there and to assess what is most important before you can set priorities for local action.
• A biodiversity audit brings information on locally important species and habitats together, for the benefit of planners, conservation organisations, schools, developers and people. These now exist all over Scotland.
• Local Biodiversity Action Plans agree a set of species and habitat priorities for the area, with associated targets. This is a framework around which all partners are working, incorporating it into decision-making and work programming. It is an efficient way of working and is good value for money.
• The auditing process has shown where there are data gaps and has stimulated new data collection and research.

Information on the habitats and species within an area must underpin any LBAP and it is vital that it is based on accurate, up-to-date information. The starting point therefore is to find out what exists and evaluate its importance in international, national and local terms, then determine the local status and identify threats and opportunities for improvement.

Most areas have produced, or are in the process of producing, a biodiversity audit which brings together the best available information on the state of the local biodiversity resource, and provides a objective framework for making decisions on local priorities and focused local action. Basing the audit around national priorities often produces surprising insights into the local environment: species or habitats which are regarded as commonplace locally may prove to be important national or international responsibilities. They might also help give the locality its distinctive flora.

For many of the partners involved, the audit is also an important means of getting to grips with the concept of local biodiversity. Local audits provide a new resource that is widely welcomed. For the first time all the information on locally important species and habitats in each region of Scotland is being brought together.

LBAP audits have helped highlight the lack of detailed and accessible biological data in many parts of Scotland. This has created an impetus to improve existing facilities for biological recording. Local Records Centres provide a self-sufficient means of making data available to a wide variety of users, together with a local and national perspective on the data. This initiative is being mirrored at a national level by the development of the National Biodiversity Network, which will provide an electronic gateway linking all the main sources of biological information into a common UK database resource.

LAGOONS TO HELLEBORINES: THE FALKIRK BIODIVERSITY AUDIT

Young's helleborine is a rare orchid found only on a few disused bings in Scotland. The Falkirk Area Biodiversity Audit was produced by the LBAP project officer in consultation with the steering group and was recognised as an integral part of the LBAP process. Making contact with a variety of other local specialists for information and comments helped to engender support and involvement in the LBAP process and ensured widespread recognition that this is a well-informed and useful document. The audit identifies 47 different habitats in the area, including lowland raised bogs, neutral grassland and the Forth estuary with its internationally important mudflats, saltmarshes and saltwater lagoons. Of the 200 or so different wild plants and animals highlighted in the audit, 24 are national priority species including the rare Young's helleborine orchid (Epipactis youngiana). The audit demonstrates to local people that this area has a vast array of wildlife and really does have a contribution to make to the conservation of local, national and international biodiversity. This has helped increase awareness and understanding of the process as a useful tool for environmental education, informing local conservation and land management activities, which had not previously been collated and assessed, nor was the data available in a form that could be used easily by many people.

Although an audit is of immediate value, for planning and other decisions, it also provides a valuable perspective and an invaluable way of generating enthusiasm amongst local people. Whether it is through involvement in a local survey, or simply by reminding them of the wealth of nature around them, it successfully provides enjoyment and value to individuals and groups who would otherwise not be involved.

The audit process also points to areas where local information is particularly sparse. Volunteer effort is invaluable in allowing targeted local surveys to fill the gaps in knowledge of local species and habitats. Many areas have carried out successful local surveys of particular groups of species or habitats. In doing so, they have drawn together what is, in effect, a local 'Domesday Book' of the state of the natural heritage at the turn of the 21st Century.

Completion of the audit allows partnerships to make informed decisions about local priorities and to agree realistic objectives and targets to take forward these priorities.

Prioritisation is the next stage in building consensus. Each LBAP area has involved different groups of people and organisations in this process, but most areas attempt to achieve as wide an involvement as possible. To some extent, the priorities follow naturally from the audit which has identified the species or habitats listed as UK priorities (guidance on this is given in UK Biodiversity Group Guidance Note 4). However, the more challenging decisions relate to the prioritisation of action for local species and habitats. Most LBAPs have found this stage to be a steep (but stimulating!) learning curve and agreement on priorities by a broad range of participants represents a real milestone in the process.

Information is needed at all stages of the LBAP process, from audit and priority-setting to reporting and review. The audit provides the baseline that allows monitoring of the biodiversity targets by the LBAP partnership, both to check that the measures in place are appropriate and to ensure 'value for money'. Many areas are now advancing to a first review of their targets, others treating their audit as an ongoing task. The LBAP partnerships in North East Scotland and in Orkney have both produced second edition audits, reflecting both changes in the biodiversity resource and improvements in data availability in their areas.

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