LEICESTER, LEICESTERSHIRE AND RUTLAND BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN
Biodiversity is the variety of life in all its forms and the habitats where it occurs. In 1992, at the ‘Earth Summit’ in Rio de Janeiro, the UK Government signed the Biodiversity Convention. This was followed up by the publication of
Biodiversity: The UK Action Plan, in 1994, with the stated goal ‘to conserve and enhance biological diversity in the UK....‘. One way this is to be achieved is through Local Biodiversity Action Plans, which aim to focus resources to conserve and enhance biodiversity by means of local partnerships, taking account of national and local priorities. To this end surveys of the local habitat resource (Bowen & Morris 1996) and key species (Lott 1997) in Leicestershire and Rutland, were published. A working group of representatives from 19 organisations, lead by Leicestershire and Rutland Wildlife Trust, used this information to draw up the local plan, “Biodiversity Challenge: An Action Plan for Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland”, which was produced in 1998. The plan identifies local and national priority habitats and species, and sets targets for their conservation, outlines mechanisms for achieving these. There are 18 Habitat Action Plans and 14 Species Action Plans. These pages contain a summary of each of the Action Plans, detailing their reasons for being a local priority, and listing their objectives and targets. Plans, including targets, were reviewed in 2005, and it is the revised versions that are given here. A link to the original Leicester, Leicestershire and Rutland BAP is given at the bottom of the page.
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