Biodiversity of plants and animals in grassland systems approaches to conservation and restoration in England
In England the very best examples of wildlife habitats are National Nature Reserves which are publicly owned and managed ; these cover only 0.3％ of the land area.Much of the biodiversity resource is therefore embodied in land managed and usually owned by private farmers.The best of this is designated as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI),protected by law.But most plants, invertebrates, birds and mammals are found on land with little or no legal protection.This wildlife declined greatly from the 1960s and in the 1980s voluntary agri‐environment schemes were introduced.These offer payments, for 5 or 10 year periods, in return for adherence to prescriptions designed to maintain and enhance biodiversity whilst allowing farming to continue.They are popular and on land in agreement the decline in biodiversity has largely been halted.The challenge now is to broaden their scope, focus them more effectively on restoration and use them together with other mechanisms such as premium markets to secure their benefits in the long‐term.
grassland biodiversity agri‐environment conservation
S.Peel S.P.Chaplin
Natural England,Lawnswood,Leeds L S16 5QT,United Kingdom.
国际会议
呼和浩特
英文
2008-06-29（万方平台首次上网日期，不代表论文的发表时间）