Designation of and management planning for protected areas

Nature conservation in Britain is realized through the government’s main statutory conservation agencies, English Nature, Scottish Natural Heritage and the Countryside Council for Wales. Certain special functions involving cross-border issues between England, Scotland and Wales are carried out by the Joint Nature Conservation Committee, which is funded by the three agencies. These special functions involve the coordination of international designations and the monitoring of species and habitats. There is also a very important voluntary movement, represented mainly by the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds, the Royal Society for Nature Conservation and the Scottish Wildlife Trust. Other government departments or agencies such as the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAFF), the Environment Agency and the Scottish Environment Protection Agency ‘have a duty to further nature conservation in the exercise of their [other] functions’.