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In line with Government requirements the Board has produced a Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) for its district.
ROMNEY
MARSHES AREA
INTERNAL DRAINAGE BOARD
BIODIVERSITY ACTION PLAN
MARCH 2010
This Biodiversity Action Plan has been prepared by the Romney Marshes Area Internal Drainage Board in
accordance with the commitment in the Implementation Plan of the DEFRA Internal Drainage Board Review
for IDBs to produce their own Biodiversity Action Plans by April, 2010.
It also demonstrates the Board’s commitment to fulfilling its duty as a public body under the Natural
Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 to conserve biodiversity.
Many of the Board’s activities have benefits for biodiversity, not least its water level management and ditch
maintenance work. It is hoped that this Biodiversity Action Plan will help the Board to maximise the
biodiversity benefits from its activities and demonstrate its contribution to the Government’s UK Biodiversity
Action Plan targets.
The Board has adopted the Biodiversity Action Plan as one of its policies and is committed to its
implementation. It will review the plan periodically and update it as appropriate.
William Maylam
Chairman of the Board
This Biodiversity Action Plan is a public statement by the Board of its biodiversity objectives and the methods
by which it intends to achieve them.
We would welcome appropriate involvement in the delivery of the Plan from interested organisations,
companies, and individuals.
You can contact us about this Biodiversity Action Plan by writing to the following address
or by email: info@rmaidb.co.uk
Further information is available on the Board’s website: www.rmaidb.co.uk |
Name
Address |
Romney Marshes Area Internal Drainage Board
Suite 7, Old Barn Offices, Salts Farm, East Guldeford, Rye East Sussex TN31 7PA |
Contents
of complete document (downloadable as a PDF)
1 |
IDB Biodiversity – an Introduction |
4 |
2 |
The IDB BAP Process |
7 |
3 |
The Biodiversity Audit |
8 |
4 |
Nature Conservation Sites |
9 |
5 |
Habitat Audit |
13 |
6 |
Species Audit |
15 |
7 |
Habitat and Species Action Plans |
19 |
8 |
Habitat Action Plans |
21 |
9 |
Species Action Plans |
30 |
10 |
Procedural Action Plans |
51 |
11 |
Implementation |
52 |
12 |
Monitoring |
53 |
13 |
Reviewing and Reporting Progress |
54 |
Below is the introduction from the IDB Biodiversity Action Plan. The Full document is available for download from here. (PDF 359Kb)
You will need Adobe Reader (free download) to view the full document. 
1. IDB Biodiversity - An Introduction
The Romney Marshes Area IDB has conducted a biodiversity audit of its district and identified those
habitats and species that would benefit from particular management or actions by the IDB. Using
this information, which is presented in later sections, the IDB’s Biodiversity Action Plan has been
developed. The Plan identifies objectives for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity
within the drainage district, and goes on to describe targets and actions that will hopefully deliver
these objectives. The intention is to integrate, as appropriate, biodiversity into the Board’s activities,
such as annual maintenance programmes and capital works projects.
The action plan will help to safeguard the biodiversity of the drainage district now and for future
generations. In particular, it is hoped that implementing the plan will contribute to the achievement of
local and national targets for UK BAP priority species and habitats. Species and habitats which are
not listed in the UK BAP but may be locally significant for a variety of reasons have also been
considered.
The Plan is an evolving document that will be reviewed and updated on a regular basis. It covers
the entire drainage district of the IDB, as shown in here.
What is Biodiversity?
The Convention on Biodiversity agreed at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 defined
biodiversity as:
“The variability among living organisms from all sources, including terrestrial, marine and other
aquatic ecosystems and the ecological complexes of which they are part; this includes diversity
within species, between species and of ecosystems.”
Biodiversity can be defined simply as “the variety of life” and encompasses the whole spectrum of
living organisms, including plants, birds, mammals, and insects. It includes both common and rare
species, as well as the genetic diversity within species. Biodiversity also refers to the habitats and
ecosystems that support these species.
The Importance of Conserving Biodiversity
Biodiversity is a vital resource and it is essential to acknowledge its importance to our lives along
with the range of benefits that it produces:
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Supply of ecosystem services – water, nutrients, climate change mitigation, pollination |
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Life resources – food, medicine, energy and raw materials |
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Improved health and well-being |
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Landscape and cultural distinctiveness |
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Direct economic benefits from biodiversity resources and ‘added value’ |
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through local economic activity and tourism |
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Educational, recreational and amenity resources |
The Biodiversity Action Planning Framework
This IDB Biodiversity Action Plan is part of a much larger biodiversity framework that encompasses
international, national and local levels of biodiversity action planning and conservation.
Biodiversity - The International Context
The international commitment to halt the worldwide loss of habitats and species and their genetic
resources was agreed in 1992 at United Nations Conference on the Environment and Development,
commonly know as the Rio Earth Summit. Over 150 countries, including the United Kingdom,
signed the Convention on Biological Diversity, pledging to contribute to the conservation of
biodiversity at the global level. These states made a commitment to draw up national strategies to
address the losses to global biodiversity and to resolve how economic development could go hand in
hand with the maintenance of biodiversity.
The Rio Convention includes a global commitment to achieve by 2010 a significant reduction of the
current rate of biodiversity loss at the global, regional and national level
(www.biodiv.org/convention/default.html). The 2002 World Summit in Johannesburg on Sustainable
Development subsequently endorsed this target.
Biodiversity - The National Context
The UK Biodiversity Action Plan (UK BAP) is the UK commitment to Article 6A of the Rio Convention
on Biological Diversity. It describes the UK's priority species and habitats, and seeks to benefit 65
priority habitats and 1149 species in total. It identifies other key areas for action such as the building
of partnerships for conserving biodiversity and gathering vital biodiversity data.
In England, Working with the Grain of Nature sets out the Government’s strategy for conserving and
enhancing biological diversity, and establishes programmes of action for integrating biodiversity into
policy and planning for key sectors, together with appropriate targets and indicators. The Strategy
has a Water and Wetlands Working Group and an associated programme of action that includes:
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Integrating biodiversity into whole-catchment management. |
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Achieving net gain in water and wetland BAP priority habitats through Water
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Level Management Plans, Catchment Flood Management Plans, and sustainable flood management approaches. |
Local Biodiversity Action Plans
For the UK Biodiversity Action Plan to be implemented successfully it requires some means of ensuring that the national strategy is translated into effective action at the local level. The UK targets
for the management, enhancement, restoration, and creation of habitats and species populations
have therefore been translated into targets in Local Biodiversity Action Plans (LBAPs), which tend to
operate at the county level.
Internal Drainage Boards and Biodiversity
The Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006 places a duty on IDBs to conserve
biodiversity. As a public body, every IDB must have regard in exercising its functions, so far as is
consistent with the proper exercise of those functions, to the purpose of conserving biodiversity.
The Act states that conserving biodiversity includes restoring or enhancing a population or habitat.
In so doing, an IDB should have regard to the list published by the Secretary of State of living
organisms and types of habitat that are of principal importance for the purpose of conserving
biodiversity. In effect, this list is comprises the Biodiversity Action Plan priority species and habitats
for England.
In 2007, the Government’s IDB Review Implementation Plan established a commitment that IDBs
should produce their own Biodiversity Action Plans.
This IDB Biodiversity Action Plan has been produced to help fulfil these requirements and seeks to
set out targets and actions that complement the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and Local Biodiversity
Action Plans.
The Aims of the IDB Biodiversity Action Plan
The aims of the Romney Marshes Area IDB BAP are:
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To ensure that habitat and species targets from the UK Biodiversity Action Plan and the |
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local LBAP are translated into effective action within the drainage district. |
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To identify targets for other habitats and species of local importance within the drainage |
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district. |
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To develop effective local partnerships to ensure that programs for biodiversity |
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conservation are maintained in the long term. |
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To raise awareness within the IDB and locally of the need for biodiversity conservation, |
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and to provide guidance to landowners, occupiers and their representatives on biodiversity |
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and inland water management. |
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To ensure that opportunities for conservation and enhancement of biodiversity are fully |
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considered throughout the IDB’s operations, and |
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To monitor and report on progress in biodiversity conservation. |
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