Integration of Conservation Strategies of Plant Genetic ... - Genres

Rare and vulnerable species require more specific action. The Wildlife and Countryside Act gives specific
protection to 168 species of plants. Action is concentrated when the species is classified threatened i.e.
rare, vulnerable or endangered according to the IUCN system. There is a growing realisation that
National Red Data books which list threatened species should also include those which are not
threatened but are of international importance.
In 1991 English Nature launched its Species Recovery Programme to assist specific endangered species
through focusing the efforts of all concerned with their continued welfare. Part of the plan for the plants
listed in the Wildlife and Countryside Act is to conserve them off site (ex situ) in the Seed Bank of the
Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. Similar arrangements are developing with Scottish Natural Heritage and
the Countryside Council for Wales. Plantlife (a voluntary body) is runnig a "Back from the Brink"
campaign to save threatened plants. At present there are major gaps in our knowledge of a genetic
variation within species or the genetic diversity of remaining threatened populations. This currently
inhibits the development of complete conservation strategies.
Action plans for species in the future will be drawn up in the conservation agencies and the Joint Nature
Conservation Committee working with the voluntary sector, for species that are globally threatened,
endemic to the UK, of international importance (i.e. listed in annexes to the Bern Convention and the
EC Habitats Directive), or are threatened to some degree (e.g. as identified in Red Data Books). This
is also likely to be the order of priority.
Protected Areas
While protected species remain important, there is increasing emphasis towards a strategy designed to
ensure that as wide a range of species as possible survive throughout their natural range.
The basic importance of the protected area system will remain, Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI)
are selected according to
1. Naturalness
2. Diversity of species present
3. Typicalness
4. Size in a measure of the ability to sustain available population
5. Rarity of species present or habitat type
By the end of March 1993 the following area and number of SSSI or ASSI had been designated.
Number Hectares % of territory
English Nature 3730 858921 6,0
Scottish Natural Heritage 1360 838831 11,0
Countryside Council for
Wales 870 205652 9,7
Northern Ireland (ASSIs) 40 47849 3,4
TOTAL 6000 1951253 8,5