The total extent of protected areas is the combined area of
nationally designated sites (Sites of Special Scientific Interest
(SSSI) in England, Scotland and Wales, and Areas of Special
Scientific Interest (ASSI) in Northern Ireland) and internationally
designated sites (Special Protection Areas (SPA) and Special Areas
of Conservation (SAC) under the European Union’s Birds and Habitats
Directives respectively). There is considerable geographic overlap
in these designations, with many sites being designated as A/SSSI,
SAC and SPA, although such sites contribute only once to the total
extent figure.
The SSSI and ASSI designation underpins almost all of the
international sites, but the European sites go further, by the
inclusion of marine areas - a further 1.6 million hectares of which
has been designated as SAC and/or SPA. As a matter of policy,
candidate SACs are given full protection from the time they are
submitted to the European Commission. The graph shows the
cumulative effect of adding such sites over time, as they were
submitted in a number of tranches over several years.
SSSIs and ASSIs can be designated to protect biological (species
and/or habitats) and geological (landforms, geology)
features. Sites may be designated as just biological, just
geological, or as mixed biological / geological sites. Due to
difficulties in calculating the proportion which are geological
only for the earliest years of the data series, the extent
indicator includes geological sites – which will of
course also provide some protection to the species and habitats
present on those sites. For the condition indicator, which
starts more recently, it has been possible to identify the
biological only and mixed biological/geological SSSIs and ASSIs and
to base the weighting used on the biological/mixed sites only
– i.e. excluding the area of geological sites, this is
to match the site monitoring data which has been selected for the
species and habitats features. SAC and SPA sites
are designated for species and habitat features, so the extent
of geological features does not arise.
The UK-wide Common Standards Monitoring programme is undertaken
by the statutory conservation agencies to assess the effectiveness
of management of the features for which protected areas have been
designated. The data presented for this indicator are for the
biological (species and habitats) features only; the monitoring of
condition of features is also undertaken for geological features.
Conservation objective(s) will have been set for each site. The
monitoring tests whether these objectives have been met.
Sites may have one or more interest features on them and each of
these is assessed separately. Conservation objectives are developed
by identifying the key attributes which make up or support the
feature (e.g. extent, quality, supporting processes), and setting
targets for them. Each attribute is then measured and compared
against the target value set. If all the targets are met, the
feature is in favourable condition. Human activities which are
likely to be affecting the site adversely, and the conservation
measures taken to maintain or restore the site, are also
recorded.
A first report on the common standards monitoring programme was
published by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee in 2006. Since
then the countries of the UK have continued to evaluate the
effectiveness of site management, but have customised their
approach to national circumstances. In England assessments are
undertaken on management units – the parcels of land into which
sites are split. In Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland
assessments are undertaken on a feature by feature basis. There are
advantages and disadvantages to both approaches.
Different types of sites or different areas
will be surveyed each year, but all sites’ features have been
assessed at least once, and assessments are carried forward each
year until a new one is made. However, when a new assessment
is made, the improvement may not have occurred in the year of
assessment. As an assessment for every site is included in
each year, no matter how old the assessment, the indicator is
reflecting the known status of all sites and where the indicator
shows an improvement it is genuinely reflecting improved status
shown by new assessments recorded that year.
In order to calculate a UK indicator the country results for
site condition, presented as the percentage in favourable or
unfavourable-recovering condition, have been weighted by the
proportion of the protected site network in each country. Sites or
features which have yet to be assessed are excluded from the
indicator. For each site type there is a small overlap
between sites which were designated at different times. For
the extent indicator this is a very small part (7,201
hectares) of the whole 4 million
hectares designated. For the weighting of site types for
the condition indicator, it is more important. The weighting
takes account of overlap between sites of the same type within a
country e.g. if two SAC cover the same area of land the area of
overlap has been subtracted from the total, so that the weighting
is calculated using the net area of each site type.
Country Agencies are further developing their monitoring of
protected sites through adopting sampling approaches.