Primary legislation in England and Wales is made by the UK
Parliament, in Scotland by the Scottish Parliament, and in Northern
Ireland by the making of Orders in Council in the nature of an Act
of the Northern Ireland Assembly. Laws may be amended through
successive legislation or specific Amendment Acts. As a result,
laws relating to specific subjects (e.g. protected sites) are often
found in more than one piece of legislation.
Although previous Acts of Parliament include provisions for nature
conservation, the main piece of legislation relating to nature
conservation in Great Britain is the Wildlife and Countryside Act
1981 (as amended). This Act is
supplemented,
inter alia, by provision
in the Countryside and Rights of Way (CRoW) Act 2000 and the
Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 (in England and
Wales), and the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004 (in
Scotland). In Northern Ireland, the main legislation is contained
in the Wildlife (Northern Ireland) Order 1985 (as amended), the
Nature Conservation and Amenity Lands (Northern Ireland) Order
1995, and The Environment (Northern Ireland) Order
2002.
See navigation for summary information on the main pieces of
legislation relating to nature conservation in the UK. Each summary
provides links to relevant areas of work within JNCC, and useful
external sources of information (such as online versions of
legislative text). Users should note that the summaries provided
are correct at the time of writing; however, for up to date
information, primary sources should be consulted. Recent
legislation is available online at
http://www.legislation.gov.uk/browse.