Site Management

Much wildlife habitat requires management to retain and enhance its value and to enable people to enjoy nature. London's biodiversity owes a lot to the high standard of stewardship undertaken in the past by many organisations across the Capital.

However, the lack of, or inappropriate management is now a significant factor in the declining nature conservation interest of many sites in London. There are several reasons why optimum nature conservation management may not be carried out. The most important of these are conflicting uses and differing perceptions of the role of the site. Where there is acceptance that nature conservation use is appropriate and desirable, lack of resources is often a major constraint to putting management into practice. Ignorance of suitable techniques may also be a contributory factor to a lack of effective management.

Site management falls into two broad categories - the physical management of the site and the management of people and accessibility. Both aspects of site management should be addressed in order to increase biodiversity and people's enjoyment of it.

The GLA, boroughs, English Nature and the London Wildlife Trust are continuing to provide site-specific management advice on strategic sites as requested. London's strategic Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation (SINCs) are divided into categories reflecting their importance, i.e. sites of metropolitan, borough or local importance (SMIs, SBIs, SLIs). The policy, criteria and procedures for identifying these sites in London have been adopted by the Mayor (see Appendix 1 of the Mayor's Biodiversity Strategy), who identifies SMIs, and encourages the boroughs to identify and protect borough and local sites.






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