
Biodiversity Duty
A biodiversity duty rests on all public bodies in Scotland. Discover how your organisation can do its bit to conserve biodiversity and how to report on it.
A biodiversity duty rests on all public bodies in Scotland. Discover how your organisation can do its bit to conserve biodiversity and how to report on it.
Under the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, all public bodies in Scotland have a duty to further the conservation of biodiversity when carrying out their responsibilities. This biodiversity duty is about taking care of nature all around us, not just in specific protected sites and for particular species.
Fulfilling your Biodiversity Duty can help address wider outcomes such as:
Read Biodiversity Duty Explained for advice and guidance on what actions you could take to contribute to the conservation of biodiversity.
As outlined in the Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011 (commonly known as the WANE Act), every public body in Scotland is required to produce a publicly available report, on compliance with the Biodiversity Duty. This must be completed once every three years. Your next report is due by the end of December 2023.
To report on what you have done, please look at Biodiversity Duty Explained, which provides advice on the sorts of actions you can take for biodiversity and how you might report on them. It will help you to select a template to assist in the drafting of your biodiversity duty report based on the functions of your public body.
Each report should aim to include information on:
To submit your Biodiversity Duty Report, publish it online and email a link to [email protected]. If you have any queries about the reporting or submission process, please contact [email protected].