Biodiversity Policies, Strategies and Action Plans

The words 'biodiversity strategy' and 'biodiversity policy' are often used by different companies to mean the same thing. Essentially, they should define a company's high level approach to biodiversity, identify the sort of biodiversity initiatives being undertaken and address how the company will go about putting them into practice.

At a national level, the term UK Biodiversity Action Plan, as outlined in UK Obligations, identifies the country's priorities in biodiversity conservation, and formulates a series of focused action plans designed to achieve these objectives: Species Action Plans, Habitat Action Plans and Local Biodiversity Action Plans (LBAPs). Similarly, at the level of an individual business, or group of businesses, a company BAP is a formal process or system of identifying, planning and implementing methods to manage the biodiversity issues related to a particular company. A company BAP will include the action plans being implemented for habitats and species at specific sites where companies have biological resources within their boundaries, but may also encompass a range of other biodiversity initiatives appropriate to the size and type of company. A Company BAP goes beyond a description of a company's approach to biodiversity (its strategy or policy) to set out a formal system by which the company can manage its overall impacts on biodiversity. The Company BAP should include assessment of the company's impacts on biodiversity, place these within the local, regional and national context and establish a system for setting, implementing and reviewing targets for its component biodiversity initiatives.

Photo Credit: Dave Slater