Biodiversity
Links:
Convention on Biological Diversity
A searchable database of international examples of impacts and adaptation is available on the website of the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Countryside Quality Counts
The Countryside Quality Counts project (CQC) provides a systematic assessment of how the countryside is changing. It helps us to understand where change is occurring and whether change matters to people, in terms of the way it affects the things about landscape that people value
English Heritage
English Heritage is involved in a number of initiatives to reduce the negative effects of climate change on the historic environment.
National Biodiversity Network
“The NBN idea could not be simpler: capture wildlife data once in a standard electronic form; integrate data from different sources; and use the internet to enable data to be used many times in different ways by as many people as possible.”
Nature’s Calendar Survey
A Woodland Trust coordinated project where you can record and view seasonal events that show the impact of climate change on our wildlife.
Natural England
Natural England is an independent public body whose purpose is to protect and improve England’s natural environment and encourage people to enjoy and get involved in their surroundings.
Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
RSPB works on policies both to reduce the greenhouse gas emissions that cause climate change and to allow wildlife to adapt to the degree of climate change that will inevitably occur. They also conduct research into the present and projected effects of climate change on birds and other wildlife, both at home and abroad.
UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UKBAP)
The UKBAP describes the biological resources of the UK and provides detailed plans for conservation of these resources, at national and devolved levels.
UK Environmental Change Network
UK Environmental Change Network collect data, monitor and carry out research to detect and interpret environmental change.
Wildlife and Countryside Link
Wildlife and Countryside Link brings together UK voluntary conservation organisations.
Publications:
BRANCH
Biodiversity Requires Adaptation in Northwest Europe under a changing Climate (2007). The over-arching objective of BRANCH is to plug the information gap on climate change and develop policies and strategies to deal with it. Specific objectives include reviewing the effectiveness of existing EU nature conservation and spatial development policies.
CB Nex
CB Nex is a platform designed to connect organisations and people to climate change and biodiversity activities.
Country Land & Business Association
Climate Change and the European Countryside: impacts on land management and response strategies (2006) report, part of the wider CLIO (Climate Impacts and Options) project, is based on a detailed study of 21 rural estates, representing a board range of biogeographical regions across Europe.
Defra
The report England Biodiversity Strategy – towards adaptation to climate change (2007) reviews scientific evidence and summarises the potential impacts of climate change on the biodiversity of England within each a number of sectors: agriculture, water and wetlands, woodland and forestry, coastal and marine, towns and cities. (pdf, 3.4 MB)
Environment Agency
Public policy plays an important role in adapting to climate change. The Climate proofing rural resource protection policies and strategies in Wales (2007) project assessed the capacity and resilience of six natural resource policies, strategies and plans to function in changed climates in 2020 and 2050. (pdf, 7.3 MB)
Joint Nature Conservation Committee
The Biodiversity and Climate Change – a summary of impacts in the UK booklet covers impacts in the marine, terrestrial and freshwater environments. It brings together information from published sources to give an overview of the evidence of climate change impacts on the natural environment of the UK.
Natural England (formerly English Nature)
MarClim (Marine biodiversity and climate change) report Working today for nature tomorrow (December 2005, pdf, 1.1 MB) examined how climate change may influence patterns of biodiversity in the marine environment is aimed at marine stakeholders and demonstrates the value and necessity of long-term data sets, the benefits of a consortium approach with a broad geographic coverage, development of indicators for marine and coastal biodiversity and how marine climate change can be factored into day-to-day business activities.
UKBAP
Conserving biodiversity in a changing climate: guidance on building capacity to adapt (2007) This guidance is aimed at those who plan and deliver conservation of terrestrial biodiversity. The six guiding principles described in this document summarise current thinking on how to reduce the impacts of climate change on biodiversity and how to adapt existing plans and projects in the light of climate change. (pdf, 1.9 MB)
UKCIP
For UKCIP reports on biodiversity, see the Publications section.
Wildlife Trust
The Wildlife Trusts work closely with community groups, businesses, land managers and local authorities on landscape-scale projects around the UK. The report Living Landscapes (2007) is a “call to restore the UK’s battered ecosystems for wildlife and people”. (pdf, 2.5 MB)
