Habitats and species
While on the ground this interrelationship seems complex, in theory it is straightforward - species rely on habitats. Thus improving species distribution and numbers will translate directly into enhanced biodiversity. In turn, this richer biodiversity strengthens the capacity of ecosystems to deliver more benefits to people.

Habitat challenges
But the pressures on the East of England's habitats are very real:

• Climate change looks set to have a massive and growing influence
• Population growth is increasing encroachment
• Infrastructure growth arising from improving economy, threatens yet more of the landscape
• Water resources - both quantity and quality issues threaten survival
• Financial context - tthe spending review and subsequent funding limitations means the ability to respond is constrained
• Societal preferences - alterations in behaviour are impacting on sites

This combination of factors will help to indicate where best to apply effort to counteract these pressures and the opportunities for future developments.

As habitats can both directly and indirectly deliver vital benefits to us all, the improvement of habitats should not be confined to conservation specialists alone. For the Forum to succeed in helping to save biodiversity it needs to encourage many other decision-makers to participate in the habitat protection, maintenance and creation process. Only in this way will the Forum fulfil its environmental aspirations in the East of England.

Title page:
Habitat/species montage - various

Habitat type page:
Woodland scene - Andy Excell

Habitat types
Arable field margin, Halvergate, Suffolk—Steve Scott

Native woodland:
Main: Bonny Wood, Needham Market - Steve Aylwerd
Fly Agaric - Peter Wakely/NE
Dormouse - Bergt Lundberg/NE
Beech woodland - Robert Goodison/NE
Woodland sunbeam - Andy Excell
Woodland ride  - Mike Addis
Bluebells - Mike Addis

Woodpasture & parkland:
Main: Woodpasture, Staverton, Suffolk —Steve Aylwerd
Captains Wood - Steve Aylwerd
Staverton - Steve Aylwerd
Stag beetle - 2010 Photo Library/NE
Lesser spotted woodpecker - 08A140JPG/NE
Pipestrelle - Fiona Quick/NE

Lowland meadow
Main: Blyth Meadow, Cranford - Steve Aylwerd
Adders tongue fern - Robert Goodison/NE
Bee /Natural England

Lowland calcareous grassland:
Main: Thorpe Meadows LNR, Peterborough —Peter Wakely
Chalkhill blue butterfly - Robert Goodison/NE
Pasque flower Barnack Hills Cambs - Gill Catton/NE

Lowland heath:
Main: Parsnip Heath, Sutton - Steve Aylwerd
Tunstall Common, Suffolk - Steve Aylwerd
Westleton Heath, Suffolk - Peter Wakely
Dartford Warbler /NE
Nightjar - Laurent Geslin/NE
Ant lion /Natural England

Fen:
Main: Valley Fen Roydon - Steve Aylwerd
Norfolk Hawker Dragonfly - WJ Furse/NE
Fen raft spider at Redgrave & Lopham Fen, Suffolk - Peter Wakely/NE
Swallowtail Butterfly - Douglas McNeill/NE
White spotted pinion moth - Nick Greatorix-Davies/NE
October reedbed - Mike Addis

Reedbed:
Main: Hen Reedbeds - Steve Aylwerd 
Reed cutting at Bure Broads & Marshes, Norfolk - Peter Wakely
Reedbed & bittern - Mike Addis &\
Standing bittern Berndt Fischer/NE
Reed Leopard, Wicken Fen - Mark Skevington/NE

Coastal floodplain:
Main: Halvergate marshes, Suffolk - Steve Scott
Pink-footed goose/NE
Marsh harrier - BBC Wildlife - Markus Varesvuo
Lapwing 1999 - PN Watts/NE

Coastal habitats:
Main: Shingle Street, Steve Aylwerd
Shingle ridge, Blakeney, Norfolk - Peter Wakely
Saltmarsh, Blakeney - Peter Wakely;
Hunstanton Cliffs, Norfolk - Peter Wakely
Eroded mudflats off Mersea, Essex;  - Peter Wakely
Eel grass 1JPG - Mark Iley/NE
Native oyster JPG - Mark Iley/NE

Lakes:
Main: Lake - Mike Addis
Benacre lake, Suffolk—Steve Scott
Eel - NE
Natterjack toad 2 - Peter Wakely/NE
Otter, Wildwood, Kent - Paul Glendell/NE
Water Vole - 2010 Photolibrary.com/NE

Connecting habitats:
Main: Pond at Redgrave and Lopham Fen - Andy Excell/NE;
River Wensum, Norfolk—Peter Wakely;
River Gipping - Steve Aylwerd
Arable field margin, Halvergate, Suffolk—Steve Scott
Lilypad DSC0236 - Mike Addis
Red-tipped cudweed - Mike Addis

Marine:
Main: Container ship off Felixstowe - Chris Gibson
Insets: Chop on the North Sea off Wallasea Island, Essex —Steve Scott
Red and green beadlet anemone, Lundy - Paul Glendall/NE
Harbour porpoise /NE
Pink sea fan /NE

Brownfield:
Main: Previously developed land in Thames Chase, Essex —Steve Scott
Ingrebourne mountain bike course. - Rob Barton
Black redstart /NE
Hedgehog - Jose Luis Gomez de Francisco/NE

How's it done page:
Orchard in winter —Nigel Russell, Natural England 

Next steps page:
Kids running through bluebells - 106033/Forestry Commission

BAP:
Biodiversity Action Plan. In 1994 the UK launched its Biodiversity Action Plan (BAP) as the first formal step towards implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). In 2002 the England Biodiversity Strategy duly followed. Now the UK BAP comprises Species Action Plans (SAP’s) and Habitat Action Plans (HAP’s), all aimed at conserving and enhancing our most threatened biodiversity.

Biodiversity:
A term embracing the variety of life on Earth. Biodiversity is essential for sustaining the natural living systems or ecosystems that provide us with food, fuel, health, wealth, and other vital services.

Being part of this biodiversity humans have the power to protect or destroy it. Currently, our activities are reducing biodiversity at alarming rates. As these losses are irreversible, they impoverish us all and damage the life support systems we rely on. But we can prevent them.

Biological Diversity:
Following the UN’s Earth Summit in 1992 the UK, along with another 150 other signatories, ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). This was the world’s first treaty providing a legal framework for biodiversity conservation.

Climate change:
The East of England is likely to experience the most extreme effects of climate change in the country. Consequently biodiversity here will be particularly at risk. Rises in sea levels and risks of seasonal flooding will lead to inundation; by contrast many parts of the East of England will also be at risk of water shortages (see entry on Water resources). As a result the range of some important species may be constricted, while some pest species may thrive

Create habitat:
Increase area of the habitat beyond its current extent. This includes the creation of lost habitat in areas where it formerly occurred. Wherever possible, habitat expansion should aim to link or extend existing areas of that particular habitat type.

Ecological network:
The harnessing of local conservation activity to exploit functional linkages to create a more strategic interconnected landscape.

 

 

Ecosystems:
The interlocking nature of biodiversity that encompasses land and soil, water and air. In effect the quality of biodiversity, both in terms of species and their habitats, determines the health of the natural world’s ecosystems.

An ecosystem’s strength is important, as the more robust a system is the more services it can deliver to us. For instance, flood attenuation occurs naturally in the floodplains where river systems have remained untouched. Thus protection of biodiversity aids the overall resilience of ecosystems, which duly offers more protection to society.

Ecosystem services:
This refers to qualitative functions of natural non-produced assets of land, water and air (including related ecosystems) and their biota. Experts currently recognise four categories of ecosystem services. The following lists provides samples of each type:

Provisioning services

• food (including seafood and game), crops, wild foods, and spices
• water
• pharmaceuticals, bio-chemicals, and industrial products
• energy (hydropower, biomass fuels)

Regulating services

• carbon sequestration and climate regulation
• waste decomposition and detoxification
• purification of water and air
• crop pollination
• pest and disease control

Supporting services

• nutrient dispersal and cycling
• seed dispersal
• primary production

Cultural services

• cultural, intellectual and spiritual inspiration
• recreational experiences (including ecotourism)

 

Financial state:
The need to reduce public spending in the UK is expected to limit the opportunities to continue to protect and develop the environment across the East of England. In order to contend with these tougher circumstances and respond to growing pressures on the environment a measure of prioritisation will need to be applied.

GI:
Green Infrastructure

HAP:
Habitat Action Plan

Infrastructure expansion:
Business activity ranging from industrialisation to services such as tourism and entertainment are expected to continue to expand throughout the East of England. Harnessed to this expansion will be a concomitant trend towards urbanisation.

These twin drivers will demand considerable infrastructure growth in terms of water supply and improved transport links that, in turn, will lead to more and more pressure on water resources and natural ecosystems.

IYB:
International Year of Biodiversity

Landscape-scale:
A ‘big-country’ approach to the creation of GI assets.

LAs:
Local Authorities

LBAPs:
Underpinning regional BAPs are more local plans, known as Local Biodiversity Action Plans (LBAPs). These plans represent the policy backdrop to enable county-level and local organisations to direct action to the habitats and species that are threatened and need most help in the UK. At the local level, biodiversity partnerships have developed their own biodiversity action plans setting out what is needed to deliver both national and local priorities. To date hundreds of these BAPs have been adopted across the East of England.

Maintain habitat:
Ensuring there is no loss in current habitat resource or quality, and that the physical processes required to maintain the habitats are operating.

 

 

Population growth:
As a result of economic growth the East of England population is expected to receive large numbers of incomers over the next 20 years and is consequently set to experience unprecedented growth in housing and associated infrastructure, farming etc. Consequently all types of habitat are under threat.

Restore habitat:
Restoration of those areas of a habitat that are deemed degraded in quality and the return of them to good condition, through positive management and/or cessation of damaging processes.

Societal preferences:
A number of factors influencing society preferences are having an impact on East of England habitats.
                
The health agenda is undoubtedly giving rise to increasing numbers of people accessing the countryside. If channeled correctly this is not a problem. However, in some cases where vulnerable BAP species are involved, this increased access can threaten their future.

The trend for 'staycation' is another example. This holidaying trend is thought to be contributing to considerable tourism growth within the East of England. In turn this is also believed to be leading to increased access levels at conservation sites and putting some of these special habitats under pressure.

Traffic-light system:
A three-tier system is used to flag a habitat type's status, with different colours representing different conditions. viz. Green indicates an expectation that targets will be met or exceeded; Amber shows targets might be met, or there is room for cautious optimism; while Red denotes that, given current knowledge, targets are not expected to be met.

Water resources:
This term refers to sources of water that are useful to humans and the ecosystem. Only 3% of all water on the planet is fresh. Of this over 2/3rds is tied up in glaciers and the icecaps, with virtually another third in ground water and less than 1% on the surface or in the air. This renewable resource is however steadily depleting.

Increasingly in the East of England human demand for water is threatening to exceed supply. Climate change, population growth, expanding business activity and increasing urbanisation are all placing this vulnerable freshwater asset under ever-greater stress.