Working with the grain of nature: a biodiversity strategy for England
Latest news
12 June 2007 Biodiversity indicators in your pocket 2007 published.
02 November 2006 Working with the grain of nature - taking it forward: Volume 1 & 2. A full report on progress under the England Biodiversity Strategy 2002-2006 
(2.4 MB, large file size) - includes biodiversity indicators
29 December 2005: England Biodiversity Group 2004-05 annual stocktake report (645 KB) published.
Working with the grain of nature: a biodiversity strategy for England was launched on 24 October 2002 at the London Wetland Centre, Barnes by the RT Hon Margaret Beckett MP, Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. The Strategy seeks to ensure biodiversity considerations become embedded in all main sectors of public policy and sets out a programme for the next five years to make the changes necessary to conserve, enhance and work with the grain of nature and ecosystems rather than against them.
The Strategy is a Government strategy, but it has been prepared with the active partnership of a broad range of stakeholders in the public, voluntary and private sectors.
The Strategy sets out a series of actions that will be taken by the Government and its partners to make biodiversity a fundamental consideration in:
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Agriculture: encouraging the management of farming and agricultural land so as to conserve and enhance biodiversity as part of the Government's Sustainable Food and Farming Strategy.
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Water: aiming for a whole catchment approach to the wise, sustainable use of water and wetlands.
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Woodland: managing and extending woodland so as to promote enhanced biodiversity and quality of life.
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Marine and coastal management: so as to achieve the sustainable use and management of our coasts and seas using natural processes and the ecosystem-based approach.
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Urban areas: where biodiversity needs to become a part of the development of policy on sustainable communities and urban green space and the built environment.
Working with the grain of nature can be downloaded as Adobe Acrobat files:
- Chapters 1 - 4
(465 KB)
- Chapters 5 - 8
(229 KB)
- Chapters 9 - 12
(208 KB)
- Appendix 1 - 5
(159 KB)
- Appendix 6 - 12
(118 KB)
Hard copies of the Strategy are available free of charge from:
Defra Publications
Admail 6000
London
SW1 2XX
Tel: 08459 556000
Email: defra@iforcegroup.com
The Strategy also looks at ways of engaging society as a whole in understanding the needs of biodiversity and what can be done by everyone to help conserve and enhance it. Among other measures set out in the Strategy are:-
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Plans for a new web-based Biodiversity Action Reporting System (BARS) to be launched early in 2004.
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Continued work to meet the biodiversity targets in the Habitat and Species Action Plans and, with clear policy goals and objectives, using these and other relevant indicators to measure progress.
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A set of biodiversity indicators - Measuring progress: baseline assessment - published in December 2003 - with addendum to printed version. Updated indicators were published on 15 September 2005.
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To continue to support, build and rely on the widest possible partnership across the statutory, voluntary, private, academic and business sectors.
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To develop and support biodiversity partnerships in the English regions and at more local levels.
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To encourage business to act for biodiversity in the boardroom, through the supply chain, in their management systems and annual reports and accounts and on the ground.
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To involve people and help make biodiversity part of their everyday lives through information, communication and education.
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To develop a mechanism for involving children and young peoplein the development of biodiversity policy.
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To make sure that we use the best possible and most up to date scientific information and professional, technical and academic expertise to supportactions, applying the precautionary principle where scientific evidence is not conclusive.
The England Biodiversity Group, which includes the principal stakeholders from the public, voluntary and private sectors, will oversee the Strategy's implementation. The Strategy is intended to be a living document, subject to regular review and roll-forward.
England Biodiversity Group: annual stocktake
The England
Biodiversity Group takes stock of progress annually and publishes
a report. A full report will be published in 2006.
These reports are published in Adobe Acrobat pdf
format for downloading.
- 2004-05 stocktake report (645 KB)
- 2003-04 stocktake report (287 KB)
- 2002-03 stocktake report (78 KB)
Further information is available on our Help page
about downloading or reading Adobe Acrobat
documents.
Page last modified:
13 June 2007
Page published: 25 October 2002