Archived press release

Wildlife Protection: Britain Comes Last

24 August 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( /wildplaces/intros/intro3.html) 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.”

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.

If you're a journalist looking for press information please contact the Friends of the Earth media team on 020 7566 1649.

Published by Friends of the Earth Trust