Introduction
2,431,000
hectares have been notified as Sites of Special
Scientific Interest (SSSI) in Great Britain, or Areas of Special
Scientific Interest (ASSI) in Northern Ireland, in recognition of
the wildlife, geological or geomorphological features they
contain. This represents 10% of the land area of the United
Kingdom.
Furthermore, areas of land and water have been designated as
Special Areas of
Conservation (SAC) under the EC Habitats Directive (2,504,000 ha),
Special Protection Areas (SPA) under the
EC Birds Directive (1,482,000 ha),
and Ramsar
sites under the (Ramsar) Convention
on Wetlands of International Importance (759,000 ha).
All these designated nature conservation areas have been
selected in accordance with national selection guidelines, and are
protected by national
legislation. For more information about the basis for
these areas and why they are designated, see the protected sites part
of the JNCC website.
What is Common Standards Monitoring?
The Joint Nature Conservation Committee is required by statute
to develop common standards throughout Great Britain for the
monitoring of nature conservation and for the analysis of the
resulting information. In 1998, the Committee
published A Statement on Common Standards for Monitoring
Designated Sites in compliance with this duty. These
common standards were piloted during 1998 and became operational in
Great Britain from April 1999. By agreement with the
Environment and Heritage Service, they were also adopted for use in
Northern Ireland.
The purpose of common standards monitoring is primarily
threefold:
- at the site level, it indicates the degree to which current
conservation measures are proving effective in achieving the
objectives of the designation, and identifies any need for further
measures;
- at the country level, it indicates the effectiveness of current
conservation action and investment, and identifies priorities for
future action;
- at the United Kingdom level, it enables Government to undertake
its national and international reporting commitments in relation to
designated sites, and more widely, and helps identify any areas of
shortfall in implementation.
The basis of the common standards for site monitoring is that
the condition of the feature for which the site is designated is
assessed against the conservation objective for that feature. The
nature conservation component which is assessed is not the site
itself, but the feature (e.g. habitat, species or earth science
feature) for which it was designated. Sites may have one, two or
several interest features on them, and each of these is assessed
separately. Conservation objectives are developed by identifying
the key attributes which make up or support the feature (e.g.
extent, quality, supporting processes), and setting targets for
them. Each attribute is then measured and compared against the
target value set. If all the targets are met, the feature is in
favourable condition. Human activities which are likely to be
affecting the site adversely, and the conservation measures taken
to maintain or restore the site, are also recorded.
Essentially the basis of common standards monitoring is to
identify the feature or features which are notified on each
individual site. Each site will have a management plan or
statement which identifies the conservation objective(s) for that
site. Monitoring tests whether the objective has been
met. Figure 1 shows how the system works in practice.
Figure 1. A condensed overview of
Common Standards Monitoring

Guidance on setting conservation objectives
During the pilot year, it became apparent that detailed guidance
was needed in the formulation of conservation objectives and a
programme of work was instituted to provide this guidance.
The guidance was developed and adopted progressively over the next
few years and is published on www.jncc.gov.uk/page-2199. The introductory chapter to the guidance provides an
overview of Common Standards Monitoring. It covers the
various concepts and terms, and provides the background to the
guidance on setting conservation objectives, and assessing feature
condition, covered in the later chapters.
Condition categories
The common standards require the condition of features to be
assessed as falling into one of a number of categories; namely i)
Favourable-maintained, ii) Favourable-recovered, iii)
Unfavourable-recovering, iv) Unfavourable-no-change, v)
Unfavourable-declining, vi) Partially-destroyed, and vii)
Destroyed.
These categories describe the state of the feature at a
particular point in time:
Favourable condition – the objectives for that feature
are being met.
Unfavourable condition – the state of the feature is
currently unsatisfactory.
Destroyed (partially or completely) – the feature is no
longer present and there is no prospect of being able to restore
it.
Where the feature is Favourable, it is classed as:
Maintained, i.e. it has remained favourable since the
previous assessment.
Recovered, i.e. it has changed from unfavourable since
the last assessment.
Where the feature is Unfavourable, a further assessment
is made as to whether the state of the feature is:
Recovering, i.e moving towards the desired state.
Declining, i.e moving away from the desired state.
No-change, i.e. neither improving nor declining.
Carrying out the monitoring
In general, condition assessments should be capable of being
undertaken by operational staff within the country conservation
agencies. For some interest features, it may be necessary to have
specialist input or to use data held by other organisations.
Condition assessments will often be based on a structured walk
across the site, but may also utilise other information (e.g.
recent records or aerial photographs).
The intention is that every feature on every designated site in
the United Kingdom should be assessed over a period of six years in
a rolling monitoring cycle. Where more than one designation applies
to a particular feature on a given site, a separate assessment
should be made for each designation. This is because the reason for
the designation, and the precise area covered, may vary between the
different types of designation.
In addition to the assessment of the condition of the features,
the common standards require the identification of those human
activities or other factors considered to be adversely affecting
the feature, and also those measures which have been taken which
are considered to be beneficial towards achieving favourable
condition.
Adverse activities and management measures
Human and natural impacts on a feature may assist the meeting of
the conservation objectives, they may prevent them from being
achieved, or they may be neutral. Human impacts may result from the
management of feature or be independent of it; for example they may
result from pollution originating from outside a site, or from the
activities of the general public. Understanding the relationship
between these impacts and the condition of features enables
conclusions to be reached about what further conservation measures,
or change in management, may be needed.
For this reason, Common Standards Monitoring requires
information to be recorded for those impacts appearing to the
assessor to be preventing the feature from achieving its
conservation objectives (Adverse Activities), and those measures
which are assisting the feature in reaching its objectives
(Management Measures). Collating information on adverse activities
and management measures helps to identify those types of activities
which are having the greatest negative impact and those measures
which are having the greatest benefit. This will help prioritise
future conservation effort and use of resources.
A first six year cycle
Over the period 1999-2005, the Countryside Council for Wales,
English Nature, Environment and Heritage Service and Scottish
Natural Heritage have been systematically carrying out a programme
of monitoring the designated features. This report sets out the
results of this first six year monitoring cycle (plus data from the
pilot year), summarising the condition of individual features under
broad feature categories, and summarising also the nature of
adverse activities and beneficial measures.
The Countryside Council for Wales (CCW) concentrated their
effort on SACs, plus some assessments on SPAs. However, CCW did
undertake a desk-based rapid assessment exercise of the condition
of habitat features of SSSIs. While this did not follow the common
standards methodology (and the results are, therefore, not included
in any of the graphs or percentages presented in this report), it
did allow for some cross-checks to be made between the condition of
SSSI features in Wales with those recorded elsewhere. Broadly, the
results of this CCW rapid assessment exercise for habitats showed a
similar pattern to that produced for habitats through Common
Standards Monitoring.