GEOCONSERVATION IN THE UK

Organised nature conservation in the UK dates from the National Parks & Access to the Countryside Act (1949). This, and all subsequent nature conservation legislation including the most recent Countryside & Rights of Way Act (2000), have aimed to protect "flora, fauna, geology and physiography". Despite this, the nature conservation emphasis in the UK is similar to the situation in most other countries in being dominated by wildlife/biodiversity conservation. However, there is very active geoconservation work going on in the UK by government agencies, geological societies, amateur geologists and academics.

Conservation of scientifically important sites in Britain is achieved by a network of about 2300 earth science Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) plus about 300 equivalents (ASSIs) in Northern Ireland. All SSSIs are being documented in a 42-volume Geological Conservation Review series. A second network is the non-statutory Regionally Important Geological site (RIGS) series, largely organised on a UK county or regional basis by local amateur geologists, but increasingly funded by the proceeds of a UK Aggregates Levy. The 14 UK National Parks are in fact more correctly classified as managed landscapes, though they and other landscape designated areas, include many important geological sites and geomorphological features (e.g. Loch Lomond and Dartmoor). Other protected areas include National Nature Reserves and Limestone Pavement Orders. There is also a growing series of Local Geodiversity Action Plans (LGAPs) and Geoparks. In the last 10 years, geoconservation thinking has been extended outside protected areas, mainly by adopting a regionalisation or landscape character approach in an attempt to put geoconservation at the heart of integrated and sustainable land management.