Plantlife and the
UK Biodiversity Action Plan

Plantlife is proud that the Back from the Brink programme is recognised as the most important mechanism in the UK for preventing the extinction and decline of threatened plant species.

The importance of the programme to the survival of wild plants is recognised through the UK Government's Biodiversity Action Plan(UK BAP), their plan to deliver the UK's obligations under the Convention on Biological Diversity, known as the Rio Convention. Plantlife is named as the 'Lead Partner' for a total of 77 'priority' plant and fungi species for which individual action plans have been prepared and published.

The role of the Lead Partner is to co-ordinate, drive and monitor work by a range of partners which will help to meet the targets set in the plan. This involves:

• Establishing and running steering groups of key players (where appropriate)
• Agreeing geographical apportionment of UK targets to country level
• Developing a coherent work programme across key players
• Identifying and seeking necessary resources for plan implementation

• Co-ordinating reporting on progress with plan implementation
• Maintaining support and ownership of the plan across key players

As more Local Biodiversity Action Plans are written and implemented, Plantlife will also have a role in providing support and advice to conservation practitioners at a local level who are working to achieve national targets for plants in the Back from the Brink programme. We are anxious to encourage good communication between the national and local levels of the Biodiversity Action Plan process, and suggest that conservationists working on any of our 'Lead Partner' species at a local level might want to contact us at enquiries@plantlife.org.uk or by post.