FOREWORD

Biodiversity is not an easy word to get your head round – it somehow sounds a bit like an interactive yoghurt or a particularly green washing powder, but actually it is short hand for biological diversity – the whole variety of living things that surround us and the interactions and relationships between them – including us as well! In many ways it has become the buzz word for what we used to know as conservation of wildlife, and the new paradigm for much of the biological sciences that focus on this area.

Mankind has always relied on biodiversity – for food, for shelter, for medicines, for clothing, for building materials and for a host of other ‘goods and services’. In our rapidly changing world, with climate change and habitat destruction key drivers, it is the threats to these last elements, the ‘services’ that are providing a lot more interest and indeed concern, in Scotland as in other parts of the world. A biodiverse and fully functioning ecosystem provides us with a whole range of these ‘services’ – from photosynthesis to pollination; from water storage to flood control; from the alleviation of pollution to the cycling of nutrients; from soil formation and fertility to climate regulation - services that for past centuries we have just taken for granted.

Evidence from around the world is showing that all is not well with biodiversity – the rate of species extinction is far greater than ever before and we are losing species even before we know very much about them. In Scotland, it is estimated that there are some 90,000 species, but the vast majority of these we know very little about (28,000 of these are invertebrates, many marine species), so understanding the implications of species’ declines and conserving biodiversity is a big challenge.

SEPA has a key role to play here, not only in terms of our duties under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, but in the way we regulate, educate, strive to improve and monitor the Scottish environment. Conserving biodiversity though is a challenge for us all and it is only by working with our partners that we shall meet the challenge.

There is a lot we can do individually though, starting by getting involved – the Scottish Wildlife Trust, British Trust for Conservation Volunteers, RSPB, Wildfowl and Wetlands Trust, British Trust for Ornithology, Butterfly Conservation, Plantlife, WWF, and a whole host of other organisations would love to hear from you!

Dr Chris. J. Spray MBE
SEPA Director of Environmental Science

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