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Our Green Capital
Introduction to the London Biodiversity Action Plan - Part 2

The London Biodiversity Partnership, The New Agenda
  Part 1, Part 3

The partnership approach enables Biodiversity Action Plans to provide the biodiversity element of Local Agenda 21, another important theme from the Earth Summit.

The London Biodiversity Partnership was launched in 1996 with the publication of a framework document Capital Assets: Conserving Biodiversity in London. Terms of Reference defining the overall purpose of the Partnership have been agreed and a variety of public, private and voluntary sector bodies make up membership of the core Partnership. A Project Officer has been appointed through funding from the Bridge House Estates Trust.

Organisations and individuals will be able to sign London’s ‘Biodiversity Charter’ as a declaration of support for the aims and objectives of the Partnership, which will be widened during the action planning process.

Through their own initiatives, some members of the London Biodiversity Partnership have already begun to contribute towards action for biodiversity. For example, English Nature is looking at ways of using grazing to improve the management of wildlife sites in the capital. London Underground has completed an ecological survey of its railway linesides and Thames Water is assessing the nature conservation resource on its land holding as part of its Biodiversity Action Plan. In addition, The London Wildlife Trust published Biodiversity Action Plans: Getting Involved at the Local Level on behalf of the Partnership, which provides guidelines for local community and local authority involvement in the action planning process.

Many individual London boroughs have formed local partnerships to further local action. These borough partnerships are particularly important as they will help to identify how specific habitat and species action plans can be implemented on the ground and can also ensure that local aspirations and priorities are an integral part of the wider process.

1. To establish an effective, committed and participatory partnership to conserve and enhance biodiversity in London
2. To identify broad aims and objectives to ensure biodiversity conservation in London
3. To ensure that national targets for species and habitats specified in the UK Action Plan are translated into effective action at the London level
4. To identify the information required to effectively conserve London’s wildlife and act to remedy deficiencies
5. To develop targets and costed action plans for the conservation of habitats and species that are of international, national, regional or local importance, or are of special value to people living and working in London. The special circumstances that arise from London’s urban character should be acknowledged
6. To promote access to and enjoyment of wildlife in London
7. To resolve conflicts between nature conservation and other interests
8. To promote public awareness and interest in the wildlife of London, raise the profile of nature conservation and encourage people’s involvement and personal commitment to the implementation of action plans
9. To produce guidance to boroughs and other key organisations on the implementation of habitat and species action plans
10. To publish the London Biodiversity Action Plan and so establish priorities and action plans, incorporating a mechanism for monitoring and review.
    

London has long been a pioneering arena for urban nature conservation. For many years, voluntary and statutory nature conservation and environmental organisations, locally-based groups and individuals have argued successfully for the capital’s wildlife. This has largely been achieved through the management of Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation and other open spaces. Protected areas such as nature reserves have been established, often in partnership with local authorities and private landowners, to safeguard wildlife and provide valuable areas for recreation, education and amenity.

The new agenda is an attempt to extend traditional nature conservation to involve a wider constituency. No longer is it simply the role of specialist agencies and voluntary wildlife bodies; this new biodiversity agenda provides an opportunity for many different people and organisations to contribute. It takes nature conservation beyond the protection and management of special sites, by emphasising the opportunities for action throughout the environment.

In the context of London, this wider landscape includes private gardens, amenity open space, sports pitches, farmland and some ‘brownfield’ sites that fall outside the identified nature conservation resource. These habitats often support considerable biodiversity. Significant proportions of song thrush, common frog and hedgehog populations, for instance, may depend on habitats provided by residential gardens. Railsides, waterways and reservoirs have immense value in their developing habitats and bodies such as London Underground, Railtrack and British Waterways have a significant role to play in developing the new biodiversity agenda.

Involvement of this wider range of bodies will be achieved through partnership and consensus, with responsibility being taken by a whole range of people and organisations able to deliver the ingredients of a Local Biodiversity Action Plan.

Sites of Importance for Nature Conservation in London form a hierarchy of three categories identified by the London Ecology Unit: Sites of Metropolitan, Borough and Local Importance. More than 1200 such sites have been identified in Greater London, covering an area of over 28,000 hectares. In addition, a network of Green Corridors extends from the Green Belt towards the centre of the city.

All London boroughs now have planning policies that seek to prevent loss or damage to these sites. Some sites are afforded further protection by their status as Site of Special Scientific Interest, Special Protection Area, National Nature Reserve or Local Nature Reserve, or because they are managed as a nature reserve by a nature conservation body, local authority or private landowner. Although the vast majority of important areas are now protected through local planning policies some are still being lost as a result of new developments. This well-established system will continue to provide a firm basis for biodiversity action in London.

Wandle by William Morris

Part 1, Part 3