Sites Of Special Scientific Interest

In 2000, the government set a target of getting 95 per cent of all SSSI land in England into a healthy or improving condition by 2010. In 2002 around 52 per cent of SSSI land was in target condition. Since then, the reported condition of SSSIs has improved and by March 2008, 83 per cent of the land area of SSSIs covering 888,706 hectares was in target condition. 45 per cent was in a healthy condition. A further 38 per cent was improving in condition, though it may take some years to reach a healthy condition. Nearly �400 million of public money has been spent on improving the condition of SSSIs since 2000, equivalent to about �50 per hectare per year. During this period Natural England has identified the condition of all SSSIs and the actions needed to bring them into a healthy condition. Defra and Natural England have worked with major landowners and occupiers to improve the condition of SSSI land. This expenditure and the progress made needs to be supported by improving the administrative and oversight functions of Natural England. All SSSIs are supposed to be subject to assessments every six years, but Natural England is behind with the task. About 25 per cent of units have not been assessed within the required six year period. Around a third of sites do not have conservation objectives in place which describe the conservation needed and allow changes in condition to be judged.

Sites of Special Scientific Interest : Tenth report of session 2008-09, report, together with formal minutes, oral and written Evidence

This 1977 book analyses and describes the wild flora and fauna of Britain and identifies important sites that exemplify this rich heritage.

This volume seeks to provide the reader with a clear understanding to the way that protected areas are created, listed and managed in international law. In doing so, it provides a complete overview of the primary international and regional conventions in this area, and the decisions and resolutions that have come from them. In doing so, it provides a comprehensive examination of, inter alia, the World Heritage Convention, the Man and the Biosphere regime, the Ramsar (Wetlands) Treaty, and the Convention on Migratory Species. It also deals extensively with the important regional conventions in this area, covering Europe, Africa and the Americas. The regimes governing international maritime protected areas, and Antarctica, are also dealt with. In each area, the values, selection considerations, management, and compliance considerations are examined in detail and linked into recognizable examples from well known protected sites of international significance.