UK biodiversity declining, in spite of government and NGO efforts
Conservationists criticise the government for failing to provide the resources to protect dwindling species.
Biodiversity in the UK is continuing to decline according to statistics released by the Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs. Defra is studying these trends as part a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP), aiming to "significantly reduce the rate of species loss by 2010". But conservationists are "very concerned" the target will not be met. The government said it had made some progress and continued to provide resources to tackle the problem. The latest update shows that many species are still disappearing from the UK. … Responding to this latest assessment, Buglife, a conservation trust that works with Defra, pointed out that the abundance of farmland birds and seabirds had changed from orange to red, and that the area of sensitive habitats threatened by acid rain had moved from green to orange. The trust highlighted the consequences of the decline, pointing out that six species on the BAP list had been lost from the UK since 1994."We urgently need a boost of resources in a new Green Deal before we cause irreversible damage to Britain’s fragile habitats," said Matt Shardlow, director of Buglife. …
