In
Britain
Britain most often refers to:
* The United Kingdom, a sovereign state in Europe comprising the island of Great Britain, the north-eastern part of the island of Ireland and many smaller islands
* Great Britain, the largest island in the United King ...
, a variety of status categorisation schemes exist, for sites, species and habitats. These include, for species and habitats,
Red Data Book
The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of Threatened Species, also known as the IUCN Red List or Red Data Book, founded in 1964, is the world's most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of biolog ...
threat categories, national rarity and scarcity assessments and Biodiversity Action Plan statuses, and for sites, statutory statuses such as the
SSSI concept, and non-statutory statuses such as county wildlife sites.
The most widely established assessment system for rarity and scarcity is based around presence of species in the
hectads (i.e. 10 x 10 km grid squares) of the
Ordnance Survey National Grid. Nationally Rare is conventionally defined as species which are found in 15 or fewer hectads. Nationally Scarce (also termed Nationally Notable) relates to species which are found in between 16 and 100 hectads. This category is subdivided into Nationally Scarce (Nationally Notable) A—species found in 16 to 30 hectads, and Nationally Scarce (Nationally Notable) B—species found in between 31 and 100 hectads. A status of Local is also sometimes used, referring to species found in between 101 and 300 hectads.
Sites of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain or an Area of Special Scientific Interest (ASSI) in the Isle of Man and Northern Ireland is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom and Isle of ...
are sites which are of importance for their biological or geological interest, and are protected from damage under legislation such as the Wildlife and Countryside Act.
A
Special Protection Area
A Special Protection Area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certa ...
is an area of importance for birds, protected under European legislation.
{{DEFAULTSORT:British Nature Conservation Statuses
Conservation in the United Kingdom