Blogs

A consortium of UK biodiversity and conservation organizations have produced State of Nature, an assessment of biodiversity trends and status in the UK.  There are depressing downward trends for many key species of conservation interest with some success stories.  Key messages are:.../

• 60% of the 3,148 species assessed have declined over the last 50 years, 31% have declined strongly.  
• A new Watchlist Indicator for conservation priority species shows that their overall numbers have declined by 77% in the last 40 years, with little sign of recovery.
• The UK Overseas Territories hold a wealth of wildlife of huge international importance and over 90 of these species are at high risk of global extinction.
• There is a lack of knowledge on the trends of most of the UK’s species - quantitative trends can be assessed for only 5% of the 59,000 or so terrestrial and freshwater species in the UK, and for very few of the 8,500 marine species.
• Available data depend heavily on thousands of volunteers in monitoring schemes.
• Habitat loss and degradation are the most severe risks, with climate change having an increasing impact on nature in the UK

Consortium partners are:

• Amphibian and Reptile Conservation
• Association of British Fungus Groups (ABFG)
• British Lichen Society
• British Mycological Society
• British Trust for Ornithology
• Buglife
• Butterfly Conservation
• Conchological Society of Great Britain and Ireland
• Marine Conservation Society
• National Biodiversity Network
• People's Trust for Endangered Species
• Plantlife
• Pond Conservation
• Rothamsted Research
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• The Bat Conservation Trust
• The Biological Records Centre/Centre for Ecology & Hydrology
• The Botanical Society of the British Isles
• The British Bryological Society
• The Bumblebee Conservation Trust
• The Mammal Society
• The Marine Biological Association
• The Wildfowl & Wetlands Trust
• The Wildlife Trusts
• Royal Society for the Protection of Birds

The FAO Commission for Genetic Resources in Food and Agriculture (CGRFA) held a special information seminar on 13 April 2013 entitled Taking Stock for the Future, with a focus on biodiversity loss and the importance of genetic resources for agriculture. Presentations and Agenda are on the FAO website and summaries and reports on the IISD reporting services.

The EU has just banned the use of neonicotinoids.  A feature summary in Nature of research and policy developments relating to the impacts of neonicotinoid insecticides on bees and other pollinators gives a good overview.  The European Environment Agency issued the second report on the precautionary principle and impacts from various substances - Late Lessons from Early Warnings: Science, Precaution, Innovation.  This follows the earlier review of the history of the precautionary principle Late Lessons from Early Warnings: the Precautionary Principle 1896-2000, produced in 2001.

The UK House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee in April 2013 published the report of its inquiry on Pollinators and Pesticides, with a particular focus on neonicotinoids, which have been causing concern because of reported impacts on both honeybees and wild pollinators.  Selected recommendations to the UK government are:

• national monitoring of wild insect pollinator species
• risk assesssment results should be placed in the public domain and should be extended to sentinel pollinator species
• review of the precautionary principle in approval of pesticides for use
• a UK action plan for sustainable use of pesticides
• a moratorium on use of imidacloprid, clothianidin and thiamethoxam on bee-attractive corps by 1 January 2014, and immediate withdrawal of amateur garden use.
• developing valuation of ecosystem services urgently to address pollinators