Introduction

Lead partners, champions, priority species, SAPs, HAPs, and Country Groups are just some of a bewildering array of terms, jargon and acronyms that confront a novice to the UK Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) (see Table 18.1). This chapter aims to give the background to the BAP, to explain in simple terms what is actually happening (focusing on the production of species and habitat action plans), and will consider the implications of this process for the conservation of fungi in the United Kingdom (UK).

Background

The United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development (the ‘Earth Summit’) in Rio de Janeiro, 1992, resulted in the widely publicised Convention on Biological Diversity, to which the UK is a signatory. One of the many requirements of the Convention was that individual states produce their own action plans or programmes for the conservation of biodiversity. Accordingly, in 1994, the UK Government published Biodiversity: the UK Action Plan (Anon., 1994). This document provided a summary of the state of UK biodiversity and the actions being taken to conserve it. Most importantly, it contained in a final section a set of ‘59 steps’ to be implemented by Government and its agencies. These 59 steps encompassed a range of activities, from the need to continue with the programme of site designations required by European Community Directives, to education and awareness programmes, to actions for UK overseas territories and for the limitation of UK fishing activities.