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24 Aug 1999
The UK is bottom of the international league table for wildlife protection, new analysis by Friends of the Earth reveals today. Even where the UK does designate internationally important wildlife areas, more than a quarter of these sites have been damaged since 1991.
The analysis is published as FOE launches a ground-breaking interactive web site, which allows the public to find out for the first time about the internationally important wildlife sites near to them and the state of their protection. The internet site( Wild Places) details any official records of loss and damage to each of these important wildlife areas, and is supported by WWF-UK.
FOE's analysis compared the richest and some of the poorest countries in the world, by the proportion of land given over to strict wildlife protection (using United Nations data). The table [1] reveals that the UK has no land at all that meets the strict protection criteria. Even countries such as Burkina Faso, Kenya (home of the Serengeti), Brazil (home of the Amazon) and Ecuador (home of the Galapagos) have done better in allocating land for strict conservation.
While the UK has sites known as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), designated
under the European Habitats Directive which requires stricter protection
than the UK provides,more than a quarter (27%) of these SACs (or the
SSSIs that make them up) have experienced loss or damage since 1991
[2]. Agriculture and development are leading causes of damage. The UK
Government has been criticised for failing to give 1,000 more sites
European protection. WWF research detailing many of these missing sites
is also included on the internet site.
Friends of the Earth is calling on the Prime Minister to back up pre-election
green rhetoric with a tough new wildlife bill in the next Queen's speech
in November, to give full protection to SACs and their component SSSIs.
Commenting, Friends of the Earth Senior Wildlife Campaigner Matt Phillips
said: “The UK is at the bottom of the league when it comes to
protecting internationally and nationally important wildlife sites.
Countries in the developing world struggling to protect rainforests
and coral reefs need to see commitment from richer countries, but the
UK is not supplying leadership. It's time Tony Blair lived up to his
green rhetoric and introduced a wildlife bill this year that gives protection
to our precious wildlife once and for all.”
Journalists can visit the web site
from today by going to where there are links to the detailed maps, to
county lists of damaged sites and to more information on protected areas.
NOTES TO EDITORS
[1] FOE compared G8 countries with a selection of the poorest countries
in the World and nations with famous wildlife habitats such as Kenya/Tanzania
with the Serengeti.
Per cent of land area designated meeting IUCN criteria I+II* from the
United Nations list of protected areas
%
Totally protected
(IUCN
I+II)
Ecuador 8.5
Thailand 7.7
United States 6.9
Kenya 5.9
Central African Republic 5.1
United Republic of Tanzania 4.4
Canada 4.3
Japan 3.6
Brazil 2.8
Ethiopia 2.7
Mozambique 2.5
Russian Federation 2.2
Burkina Faso 1.9
Niger 1.3
Italy 1.2
France 0.8
Mali 0.3
Germany 0.1
United Kingdom 0.0
* IUCN category I: Strict nature reserve/wilderness area. To protect
nature and maintain natural processes in an undisturbed state in order
to have eologically representative examples of the natural environment
for scientific study, environmental monitoring, education and maintenance
of genetic resources in a dynamic and evolutionary state.
Category II: National Park. To protect outstanding natural and scenic
areas of national or international significance for scientific, educational
and recreational use. These are relatively large areas not materially
altered by human activity and where extractive reource uses are not
allowed.
[2] Official 'loss and damage' data are collected every year by the
Government's wildlife agencies (EN, CCW and SNH - but not in Northern
Ireland). These relate to SSSIs and all SACs must by law be composed
of SSSIs.The present official list of 340 SACs is composed of more than
830 SSSIs. While usually all of a SSSI is within the SAC, occasionally
parts of a SSSI are not included, because the SAC may be designated
for slightly different reasons. In some cases parts of a SSSI can be
in different SACs. FOE's analysis shows that of the 830 or so SSSIs
that are part of SACs, 22% suffered loss or damage since 1991. This,
though, relates to 27%of SACs. It is possible that a small number of
cases of loss or damage occured on the SSSIs, but off the SAC.However
these data refer to the period between 1991 and 1996, the most recent
information available. Since that time, the rate of damage to SSSIs
has continued unabated suggesting that the figure for the full period
to now would be higher.
Contact details:
Friends of the Earth
26-28 Underwood St.
LONDON
N1 7JQ
Tel: 020 7490 1555
Fax: 020 7490 0881
Web: www.foe.co.uk/feedback.html
Media team
