The UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP)

The UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) was published in 1994, and is the UK Government’s response to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), which the UK signed up to in 1992 in Rio de Janeiro. The CBD called for the development and enforcement of national strategies and associated action plans to identify, conserve and protect existing biological diversity, and to enhance it wherever possible.

What happened to the UK BAP website www.ukbap.org.uk? 

As part of the UK government's review of websites the UK BAP site has been 'closed' and the core content migrated into the JNCC website. 

 

All of the content from the UK BAP site has been archived by The National Archives (UKBAP copy March 2011)  and the core  information will continue to be kept up to date here.  Existing links/bookmarks to pages on the old UK BAP website will be directed to the equivalent page here or to The National Archives as appropriate.

 

 

The UK was the first country to produce a national biodiversity action plan. The UK BAP describes the biological resources of the UK and provides detailed plans for conservation of these resources, at national and devolved levels. Action plans for the most threatened species and habitats have been set out to aid recovery, and reporting rounds every three- to five-years show how the UK BAP has contributed to the UK’s progress towards the significant reduction of biodiversity loss called for by the CBD.

Since the creation of the UK BAP, devolution has led the four countries of the UK (England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales) to produce their own country biodiversity groups and country biodiversity strategies. In 2007, however, a shared vision for UK biodiversity conservation was adopted by the devolved administrations and the UK governments, and is described in 'Conserving Biodiversity – the UK Approach' (PDF, 439kb). This publication sets out the future shared priorities for UK Conservation, and the responsibilities at UK and country levels. In response to this, JNCC presented a Committee paper (PDF, 105kb) in September 2009, outlining the role of JNCC within the UK BAP.

To support the work of the secretariat, the UK BAP website was created by JNCC. The website contained information on the BAP process, hosted all relevant documents, and provided news and relevant updates. This site has recently (May 2011) been migrated into the JNCC website as a result of the review of the UK Government's websites, the objective of which was to make it easier for the public to find content, and to make best use of resources. The original UK BAP website has been archived, and can be found on The National Archives website. All the relevant information and documents have been migrated across to the UK BAP web pages on the JNCC website, and this information has been divided into the following sections:

• Background: the history and development of the UK BAP, from the signing of the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1994 up to the most recent CBD meeting (COP10) held in Nagoya (Japan) in October 2010.
• Partnerships: the groups currently and previously involved with the UK BAP, the responsibilities of these groups, and documentation from meetings.
• UK BAP priority species and habitats: details of the most recent UK BAP priority species and habitats lists, revised following a review in 2007.
• Reporting: details of the UK BAP and CBD reporting rounds, and future reporting requirements.
• Biodiversity News: provides links to the the most recent issue, and back issues, of 'Biodiversity News', which is published by Defra four times a year. The Summer 2011 issue (No. 54) (PDF, 4.0Mb) is available now.
• News and updates: contains information on news and publications of relevance to the UK BAP.

In addition, there are several other data and information products supplied by JNCC of relevance to the UK BAP, including:

• Biodiversity Action Reporting System (BARS): a web-based information system that hosts and supports the planning, monitoring and reporting requirements of national and local Biodiversity Action Plans, and provides data for the reporting rounds. 
• Habitat Management on the Web: a search engine designed to provide information about how best to manage non-marine habitats in the UK for biodiversity and conservation. 
• Species account pages: the provision of collated information about UK BAP priority species, including why they are a priority, how they are protected and actions required.

If you have any queries about the UK BAP, or cannot find the content you are looking for on the new web pages or within The National Archives, please contact: