Global priorities for biodiversity conservation in the United Kingdom

Abstract

Many countries identify lists of priority species for biodiversity conservation. These are developed using different criteria which can change over time. We argue that priority species need to be selected using both global and national criteria, and make recommendations for identifying global priority sites and species in the United Kingdom (UK). We compiled lists of 187 globally threatened species and 661 species endemic to the UK, and compared these with a UK national priority species list compiled from each of the four countries of the UK. We show that 55.1 % of globally threatened species, and up to 87.5 % of the UK's endemic species are not found on UK priority species lists. Compiling data on the distribution of the endemic and globally threatened species from the National Biodiversity Network (NBN) Atlas, we show that 117 species are not recorded in any protected area designated for nature conservation and 43 of these species are apparently not recorded in any protected areas in UK. It was also found that only 31 globally threatened and 17 endemic species are notification features for Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) in the UK. These findings indicate that much of the focus of UK conservation is on nationally important populations of species, but globally important species are comparatively neglected. We propose that an assessment of Key Biodiversity Areas (KBAs) in the UK, using a global standard, could be used as a tool to identify sites containing globally significant populations of species which are not currently recognised.