Local Biodiversity Partnerships
Discover how local authorities work with organisations to take action for nature and how this benefits you and your area.
Partnerships
Local Biodiversity Action Plan Partnerships operate at the local authority level although there are wider partnerships in NE Scotland and Tayside, while the two National Parks manage their own Plans. These Partnerships were established across the UK following the Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and the UK becoming a signatory to the Convention on Biological Diversity.
Many local authorities continue to oversee biodiversity partnerships with representatives of local interested organisations and individuals to develop and implement Local Biodiversity Action Plans or equivalent programmes of action. In many cases local authorities employ a dedicated biodiversity officer or an officer who supports the partnership as part of another post..
Local Biodiversity Partnerships tend to focus on the following three broad themes in relation to nature in their local area:
- Nature conservation projects and actions
- Public awareness-raising and communications
- Engaging with schools and education
Plans
Traditionally Biodiversity Partnership developed a Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP) that identified habitats and species of local significance on which actions focused although this has developed into to a wider perspective based on opportunities to increase the health and resilience of ecosystems, such as through local nature networks.
The original vision for Local Biodiversity Action Plan Partnerships is set out in documentation on Local Biodiversity Action Plans, which included a manual on how to establish a Partnerhsip, prepare a Plan based on evaluating local priorities and setting targets, although in practice many different approaches have been developed.
You can find out more about how NatureScot works with government and specifically with local government.
Your local partnership
Find out what your Local Biodiversity Action Plan Partnership is doing to protect your area’s outstanding natural features and how this benefits you and your community:
- Argyll and Bute
- East Ayrshire
- North Ayrshire
- South Ayrshire
- Cairngorms National Park (has its own distinct plan and biodiversity officer)
- Clackmannanshire
- Dumfries and Galloway
- West Dunbartonshire
- East Dunbartonshire
- East Lothian
- Edinburgh City
- Falkirk
- Fife
- Glasgow
- Highland
- Inverclyde
- Loch Lomond and the Trossachs National Park (has its own distinct plan and biodiversity officer)
- Midlothian
- North East Biodiversity
- North Lanarkshire
- Orkney
- Renfrewshire
- East Renfrewshire
- Scottish Borders
- Shetland Islands
- South Lanarkshire
- Stirling
- Tayside
- West Lothian
- Western Isles
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