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FOREWORD
I am delighted to be asked to hansel this very important publication. In the
decade since the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, much work has been going
on behind the scenes all over Britain to put the action into the UK Biodiversity
Action Plan.
Few areas have been harder at work than Tayside – and thank goodness for
that! Tayside, which covers the three local authority areas of Angus, Dundee
City and Perthshire & Kinross
is a very special place indeed.
It covers 10% of the landmass of Scotland, it provides winter quarters for more
than half of the world’s population of pink-footed geese, it houses a third
of Britain’s breeding population of ospreys, it has the largest reedbeds
in Britain and boasts the oldest living tree in Europe – the Fortingall
Yew, which is between 3,000 and 5,000 years old. So there is an immense amount
of biodiversity
to take action over!
Mercifully, much of it depends on voluntary action. I say ‘mercifully’ because
I am a strong believer in voluntary action to back up political decisions. It
is the voluntary coming together of Local Biodiversity Partnerships which will
see much of the national and local action implemented.
But there is no point in publishing Biodiversity Action Plans, however all-encompassing,
and then sitting back to admire them. Biodiversity Action Plans have to be dynamic.
They have
to evolve. This is just the
Tayside Biodiversity Partnership’s first tranche; the second tranche will
be published next year, and specific
Species Action Plans will be added.
Then there is the task of ensuring that all the actions listed are out into practice
and their effect monitored. That’s where the real work starts, and it depends
on us – on all of us: not just the statutory bodies, local authorities
and agencies charged with safeguarding Tayside’s biodiversity, but the
people most intimately involved – farmers and foresters, land managers
and business entrepreneurs, hoteliers and tourist operators, pupils and students
of our schools and colleges. We all have a vital part to play in taking care
of Scotland’s natural heritage and to passing on our inheritance to future
generations in even better shape than when it was bequeathed to us.
I wish every possible success to the many organisations and individuals who will
be working to maintaining and improving this wonderfully diverse part of Scotland.
Remember, biodiversity isn’t something only to be found away in the far
blue yonder. Biodiversity starts on your own doorstep. Go to it!
 Magnus
Magnusson, KBE.
August 2002 |
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INTRODUCTION
TO BIODIVERSITY
WHAT IS BIODIVERSITY?
Biodiversity is a fairly new word to our language, but it is becoming more and
more commonly used and understood. It simply signifies the variety of life on
earth in all its shapes and sizes – from smallest insect and fungus to
the largest mammal or tree. In Scotland alone it is estimated there is something
in the order of 90,000 species; worldwide there could be at least 30 million!
This massive variety of life is everywhere, not just in our countryside and gardens,
but also in our towns and cities. It is all encompassing – biodiversity
enriches all our lives, whether it’s a butterfly visiting our garden or
a blackbird heard from an office window. It is important to our health, in the
use of many species in our medicines and for the fact that it encourages us to
take exercise in our surroundings, be it walking or gardening. It is therapeutic
too – it has been found that a view of nature from a hospital bed speeds
up recovery from operations.
Biodiversity contributes to our overall economy by supplying the raw materials
for our clothing, food, drink, fuel, buildings and roads. Tourism based on wildlife
is one of Scotland’s major income-earners. Environment-based jobs include
farming, fishing and services providing water, energy and building materials. |
“Biodiversity
encompasses the whole variety of life, it is all living things, from
the tiny garden to the giant redwood tree. You will find biodiversity
everywhere, in window boxes and wild woods, roadsides and rain forests,
snow field and seashore.”
The UK Steering Group Report 1995 |
IS OUR BIODIVERSITY
THREATENED?
Our biodiversity is under threat globally, nationally and locally. In the last
hundred years at least 100 species have become extinct in Britain alone. This
figure palls into insignificance when we consider that the present extinction
rate is up to 10,000 times higher than that in prehistoric times. It has been
estimated that globally we are currently losing up to 50,000 species every single
year – that is 137 a day - 6 each and every hour! If human activity continues
to expand at current rates, at least 20% of all species will have disappeared
in less than thirty years’ time.
The statistics are compelling. A recent study estimates that if every person
in the world consumed as much as the average person in the high-income countries
of the West, we would need three more Earths to sustain us. So our goal of sustainable
development cannot be the continuation and expansion of such intensive use of
our natural resources. In Scotland, we have lost 99% of our ancient pinewoods
and 90% of our raised bogs; in Tayside we have lost 35% of our heather moorland.
A quarter of Scotland’s flowering plants have become rarer and a third
of all bird species recorded in Scotland have been found to be in need of special
conservation action. The water vole is very nearly extinct in our area– nationally
only 2% of its original population remains. Many of our valuable habitats, such
as unimproved grasslands and wet woodlands, are at risk of serious damage or
loss.
Occasionally a natural process threatens the existence of a species or habitat,
but in the majority of cases it is the way we use our natural resources that
is the main problem. Although we have little understanding of what the components
of our complex web of life are, we know that as a whole they have made it possible
for our species to survive. This web is inherently fragile and the way we act
affects our part in it, as well as the web itself. We need to consider new options
on how to safeguard both our local and global biodiversity to ensure quality
of life not just for ourselves and future generations, but also for the other
species with which we share the planet. The earth is, after all, the only home
we have. |
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