More Information on Biodiversity
For more information on biodiversity around the Moray Firth, Scotland and the rest of the UK, please use the web links below. Biodiversity plans can be downloaded from the respective web sites.
International Year of Biodiversity 2010
2010 has been declared the International Year of Biodiversity (IYB) by the United Nations. This is the website of IYB-UK, which is the UK partnership supporting IYB.
Two Biodiversity Action Plans cover the Moray Firth, Highland and North East Scotland:
Highland Biodiversity
The Highland Biodiversity website has information on biodiversity, biodiversity planning, and action taken to raise awareness and improve or protect habitats and species in Highland. The Highland Biodiversity Project started in 2002, with over £400,000 of new funding spent on biodiversity action and planning in the area, having delivered seven Local Biodiversity Action Plans (LBAPs), 89 projects and over 100 events across the seven LBAP areas. The website is maintained on behalf of the Highland Biodiversity Partnership by the Highland Biodiversity Officers, who are employed by Highland Council with funding from Scottish Natural Heritage. Read more.....
North East Scotland Biodiversity
North East Scotland Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP) takes action to conserve important species and habitats for our benefit and for future generations. The LBAP covers Aberdeen, Aberdeenshire and Moray and is a partnership of local authorities, environmental, forestry, farming, land and education agencies, businesses and individuals. Read more....
Biodiversity Scotland
The vision of the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy is for Scotland to be a world leader in biodiversity conservation where everyone is involved and everyone benefits. Government, agencies, organisations, voluntary bodies and individuals across Scotland are working together to achieve this vision. Scotland is involved in a conserving biodiversity in a number of different ways. Nationally much of the biodiversity activity will be informed by the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy. Scotland is also a key partner within the UK Biodiversity Action Plan process, as well as being an active signatory to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity. Locally, the Local Biodiversity Action Plan process ensures effective delivery on the ground as well as raising awareness of local biodiversity. Read more.... about Scotland's contribution to conserving our earth's biodiversity.
UK Biodiversity Action Plan
The UK BAP website – supporting the implementation of the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) on behalf of the UK Biodiversity Partnership. Read more....
Biological Recording Groups
Sharing information about wildlife - in the UK there is an enormous amount of biodiversity information that has been gathered over the years by all sorts of organisations and individuals. Most of these people are volunteers who organise themselves through national and local societies and recording schemes. The UK government (through its conservation and environmental agencies), local government and non-government wildlife-related organisations all collect and use biodiversity data. One of the principal means of collation and interpretation of this data is the network of local records centres and at the national level, the Biological Records Centre that collates and interprets data from national recording schemes. This information is vital if we are to understand the distribution and abundance of species and habitats; without it, making informed decisions on how to protect the UK’s wildlife is much more difficult. Read more....
Natural History Museum
Explore the wonderful diversity of British wildlife in this UK Biodiversity Portal. There are thousands of species living on our shores, in woods and fields, and in the urban environment as well, so you can explore biodiversity wherever you live. Learn more about wildlife with our easy-to-use identification guides and take part in national surveys, forums, fun activities for kids and more in these pages.
Biodiversity Heritage Library
The Biodiversity Heritage Library (BHL) is a consortium of 12 major natural history museum libraries, botanical libraries, and research institutions organised to digitise, serve, and preserve the legacy literature of biodiversity. The European Commission’s eContentPlus program has recently funded the BHL-Europe project, with 28 institutions, to assemble the European language literature. In addition, negotiations are being pursued with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, the Atlas of Living Australia and Brazil to join the BHL consortium. These projects will work together to share content, protocols, services, and digital preservation practices. Read more....
