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Scottish Biodiversity Strategy

The Scottish Biodiversity Strategy, "Scotland's Biodiversity: It's in Your Hands external site " aims to conserve biodiversity for the health, enjoyment and wellbeing of the people of Scotland now and in the future. It was published by the Scottish Government in May 2004. The strategy covers the period up to 2030. It presents a vision, an aim and five strategic objectives:

Vision

It's 2030: Scotland is recognised as a world leader in biodiversity conservation. Everyone is involved; everyone benefits. The nation is enriched.

Aim

To conserve biodiversity for the health, enjoyment and wellbeing of the people of Scotland now and in the future.

Objectives

1. Species & Habitats: To halt the loss of biodiversity and continue to reverse previous losses through targeted action for species and habitats

2. People: To increase awareness, understanding and enjoyment of biodiversity, and engage many more people in conservation and enhancement

3. Landscapes & Ecosystems: To restore and enhance biodiversity in all our urban, rural and marine environments through better planning, design and practice

4. Integration & Co-ordination: To develop an effective management framework that ensures biodiversity is taken into account in all decision making

5. Knowledge: To ensure that the best new and existing knowledge on biodiversity is available to all policy makers and practitioners.

Developing the strategy

The Scottish Biodiversity Forum developed the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy in 2004 drawing from a set of documents published by the Forum in 2003 under the collective title of "Towards a Strategy for Scotland's Biodiversity: Biodiversity Matters external site ". It represents Scotland's response to its obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity and to the UK Biodiversity Action Plan, along with the Scottish Ministers' desire to put biodiversity at the heart of our national identity and culture.

A strategy for 2020

The international context for the Scottish Biodiversity Strategy has recently changed.  The Scottish Biodiversity Committee has considered it's response to this and the existing still stands.

A 2020 overview is being prepared to complement the 2004 Strategy. This will set out the principles and priorities for the Scottish Government and its partners to adopt in order to meet the 2020 biodiversity targets. A public consultation is planned for the summer and the new strategy will be published by early 2013 .