Joint Nature Conservation Committee

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) is the statutory adviser to the UK Government on UK and international nature conservation.

All four country nature conservation agencies are involved:

• Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside (Northern Ireland)
• Natural Resources Wales
• Natural England
• NatureScot

Each agency is represented on the committee by its chair and one other member. The Secretary of State appoints the Chair of JNCC and five independent members of the committee.

Our Deputy Chair Susan Walker and the Director for Policy and Advice represent NatureScot on JNCC.

To find out more, visit the JNCC website.

What does JNCC do?

The committee’s work helps to maintain and enrich biological diversity, conserve geological features and sustain natural systems – in the UK and beyond.

Its main functions are to:

• advise government on developing and implementing policies for, or affecting, nature conservation in the UK and globally
• give advice and share knowledge about nature conservation issues affecting the UK and globally
• set common nature conservation standards across the UK, including for monitoring, research and analysis of results
• commission or support research relevant to these functions

How JNCC supports NatureScot

JNCC carries out work on our behalf and also provides us with services to help us to conduct work ourselves and to co-ordinate our work with the other country agencies in the UK.

NatureScot has an internal liaison group through which our links with the JNCC are managed. The NatureScot Director Policy and Advice is part of the Country Agencies/JNCC Chief Scientists’ Group which considers a range of policy and delivery issues of shared interest.

Inter-agency groups have been set up to support work on certain topics such as air pollution, coastal habitats and soils. A specialist from one of the country agencies leads each such group.