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Special Protection Act (SPA) Emily Lambourne

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Special Protection Act (SPA) Emily Lambourne

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Name of directive

Special Protection Area (SPA) is when certain places in the countryside and coast are protected because of the EC bird’s directive

Whether it’s European or National

It is the European Union.

When it was implemented

This legislation was brought into force April 1979.

Why it was implemented

It was implemented because the birds which are rare and vulnerable need looking after.

Summary of its main aims

Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certain particularly threatened birds.

Together with Special Areas of Conservation (SACs), the SPAs form a network of protected sites across the EU, called Natura 2000.

Successes

Failures

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Name of directive
Habitats directive

European or national
European legislation; Europe’s natural habitats are deteriorating and an increasing number of wild species are becoming endangered.

When it was implemented
Adopted in 1992 and is a unique partnership between 27 countries. It also works alongside the Birds directive setting high standards for nature conservation.

Why
The decline in Europe’s habitats especially along the coast is mainly a result of development. Flood risks and coastal erosion have a large effect on wetland and coastal environments, this therefore gained the attention of many stakeholders and government conservation organisation to make sure these unique and sensitive habitats are protected. Climate change along with sea level rise was another threat which is resulting in ongoing habitats loss in European sites. The conservation also aims to protect wild fauna and flora whilst maintaining high levels of biodiversity.

Summary of main aims
To maintain or restore Europeans protected habitats. Along the coasts special attention is made in creating plans and projects would focus on flood management along with the ongoing battle against climate change. The coastline and seas around the United Kingdom have remarkable marine biodiversity and provide rich natural resources for many activities such as fisheries, industry and recreation. The Habitats Directive protects her 1,000 species and around 230 valuable habitat types.

Success
Surveys in the UK resulted in the design of over 2000 marine conservation sites (covering the size of Belgium), before the Habitats Directive came into place there were only 3 protected marine areas in the UK. Over 500 farmers have signed up to the scheme along the Baltic coastline to make sure they manage their land in a wildlife friendly way as the coastline is a vital refuge for hundreds of thousands of migrating birds. The Curonian Spit is a long narrow strip of land extending over 50kms along the southern coast of Lithuania. The spit harbours some of the largest and most complex dynamic dunes in Europe however is being threatened by human activities such as afforestation, road construction and tourism. The whole area is now protected under the Habitats Directive and work has begun in order to restore parts of the damages dune habitat which is home to unique species. Practices have also been implemented to reduce the impact of tourism.

Failures
The tough conservation laws were weakened at many EU conferences in order to make them more ‘business-friendly’. British farmers also admitted that British soils are reaching crisis point even with the legislation focusing to minimise soil erosion and compaction and prevent soil being contaminated with toxic substances. The European countries in general have taken a more ‘relaxed’ approach towards the legislation and has been criticised by many as no sense of urgency has reached these countries yet.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/181444/coastalsqueeze.pdf
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/legislation/habitatsdirective/index_en.htm
http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/pdf/20yrs_brochure.pdf

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james

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Name of directive: Wildlife and Countryside Act

When it was implemented: 1981

European or National?

National (Act of Parliament in the UK)

Why it was implemented:

This piece of legislation was implemented to revive the amendments made by the Protection of Birds Act 1954/1967 and the Conservation of Wild Creatures and Wild Plants of 1975 which prohibits killing or taking wild animals and to change factors of legislation that promotes the protection of certain wild mammals and to restrict the introduction of animals that are not native to the current habitat. Furthermore, it is implemented to apply certain directives relating to nature conservation of the countryside and national parks in order to accommodate the Countryside Commission’s provisions.

Summary of its main aims:

The main aims of this act is to protect wild birds, their habitat and eggs and anyone who does not abide by this immediately strikes as an offence and can be criminally charged. Intentionally taking, damaging or destroying the habitat of a wild bird is an offence and any types of intervention that has intentions to possess or disturb birds.

Successes:

Since this legislation has passed, wild birds in nature reserves have increased and by 11% but it constantly changes due to different factors but not due to the intervention of human activity, i.e. hunting because of the implementation of the legislation. (source: gov.uk).

Failures:

According to the British Trust for Omithology, Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, from 1970-2014 the population of wild farmland birds has gradually declined and this is due to the rapid changes in farmland management during the late 70s and early 90s.

References:

http://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1981/69

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Marine and Coastal Access Act 2009

It is a national directive that is in affect in the United Kingdom.

The act was passed in late 2009 and came into full effect in early 2010.

The Marine and Coastal Access Act is responsible for the creation of the Marine Management Organisation. This organisation was created because the government decided there was a need for a new system to manage the coastal and marine areas of the UK.

The Organisation, and thus the act, aim develop the economy of coastal areas in a sustainable way. One of the ways they have attempted to do this is by changing fishing management to decrease the risk of over-fishing and doing permanent damage to the coastal habitats. The organisation has also set up a program which will enforce these new regulations around the coast.
Other aims of this program are to improve the cleanliness and safety of the coasts.

In terms of protecting by introducing more restriction to fishing then the act has been successful because there are now legal programs to persuade people to not break the laws because they are now being enforced.

However, the key part of economic growth is that companies and businesses make money. Because this bill is enforcing the restriction to fishing, there is less economic growth in towns that primarily fish for a living.

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Name of directive: Bathing water directive

Whether it’s European or national: It is a European directive

When it was implemented: the bathing water directive was implemented in the 1970s. The legislation was updated in 2006 as knowledge and experience in many fields has progressed since in 1970s. so as part of the Sixth Community Environment Action Programme 2002 -2012.

Summary of its main aims: The legislation was implemented so that the bathing water around Europe is monitored for health reasons. The EU must assess two factors of the bathing water quality for faecal bacteria. They also have to inform the public about the quality of the water and beach management through the bathing water profiles which can be found online and give an outline of the water quality. The Bathing water profiles contain information on the kind of pollution and sources that affect the quality of the bathing water and are a risk to the public’s health.

The new Directive is intended to be based on scientific knowledge on protecting health and the environment, as well as environmental management experience. To provide better and earlier information to the public about quality of their bathing waters. To move from simple sampling and monitoring of bathing waters to bathing quality management, and lastly to be integrated into all other EU measures protecting the quality of all our waters (rivers, lakes, groundwater’s and coastal waters) through the Water Framework Directive.

Success: the latest EEA report on the water quality of Europe is of high quality, and 94% of the sites meet minimum requirements. However, this means that 6% of the sites had bad water quality.

Failures: Methods from 2006 to measure the water quality may have changed due to advancements in the that field. More than 2 billion has been spent on infrastructure improvements to help increase the water quality in Blackpool.

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Special Site of Scientific Interest (SSSI) - This is an EU directive that protects certain areas based on whether there are special animals or plants in the area. These are protected because they are of specific biological or physiographic interest. This means that areas with endangered or protected species are saved from harm in the form of development or destruction. This is a successful scheme, with many species being protected as a result of it, including the sand lizard and golden plovers. There are however some failures of the scheme, for example, if you are a landowner and your area suddenly becomes an SSSI this means that if then incorrectly care for the land then it means that you are liable for a fine of around £200, which may mean that poor farmers may lose money that they do not have in the first place, otherwise they would be caring for it.