One of the most significant local nature conservation events since I wrote the last Secretary’s Notes in March was the launch, in September, of the Carmarthenshire Biodiversity Action Plan by Sue Essex, Welsh Assembly Member in the Great Glasshouse at the National Botanic Garden of Wales (see photo on back cover). A Biodiversity Fair was staged in conjunction with the launch organised by County Council and NBGW staff but most notably Rosie Carmichael and Jan Moseley.
Philip Madoc opened the Fair and delivered an impassioned speech outlining the challenge that Biodiversity Action poses at the local level. The Fair was attended by 900 people, the second highest gate at the garden since it opened on 24th May and I hope that most took home a better understanding of what our future commitments must be in order to preserve at least a small remnant of the county’s biodiversity.
Although many habitats and species of concern are protected within statutory sites such as Sites of Special Scientific Interest and National Nature Reserves, it is generally acknowledged that the wellbeing of the country’s flora and fauna cannot be maintained by preserving these sites alone. The UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) sets out to conserve those habitats and species as a general principle, wherever they may occur. Biodiversity: The UK Steering Group Report was published in 1995 which listed all those habitats and species considered to have undergone such decline in recent years that remedial action was thought to be essential. In 1998 the DETR published a refined list of BAP species, drawn together as a Priority List (which includes some 500 species) and a further, much longer, List of Species of Concern. Local authorities are now committed to producing Local Biodiversity Action Plans and the launch of Carmarthenshire’s on September 30th saw the start of an ongoing process, in partnership with many organisations: governmental, commercial and voluntary, of drafting and implementing actions to ensure that biodiversity is given due consideration in the world of the future.
