Biodiversity - It's Our Nature
"Biodiversity is all living things,
from the tiny garden ant to the giant redwood tree. You will find
biodiversity everywhere, in window boxes and wild woods, roadsides
and rainforests, snowfields and sea shores"
(Biodiversity: The UK Steering
Group Report, 1995)
The richness of our Wildlife in
Wales is widely celebrated, yet areas such as Neath Port Talbot are
often associated more closely in people's minds with heavy industry
and mining communities. However, there is an incredible variety of
habitats and wild creatures that also occupy our County
Borough.
Without the wide range of plants
and animals around us we would not be able to survive on this
planet. Every living thing contributes to the balance of
Nature and the health of the planet and we, as human beings, are
also part of this balance. However, the impact of our
activities is changing things far more dramatically than any other
creature on Earth.
You can help conserve our local biodiversity in various
ways. Even just a small change to your garden by planting a
few wildlife-friendly plants or feeding the birds can make a big
difference to the wildlife in your patch. If you would like
to contribute to larger areas there are volunteer groups that
manage various sites in the county borough. Or, you can help
us learn more about our biodiversity by participating in
surveys. So what ever your preference please get involved!
The biodiversity pages on this website aim to provide you with
ideas and advice to do just that. So read on and find out
more about our local biodiversity and how you can help out in it’s
conservation.
Key sections:
- Local Biodiversity Action
Plan – this section presents the local biodiversity
action plan. The key document that leads local biodiversity
action in the County Borough. Many organisations, individuals
and volunteers contribute towards the targets set out in the plan;
including the council.
- Wildlife Gardening- download our go
wild in your garden leaflet and get more ideas on how to improve
your garden for wildlife.
- Biodiversity and the Law – certain
sites and species are protected under law, find out which and what
it means to you.
- Getting Involved – ideas for how you
can get involved in biodiversity conservation, be it surveys,
volunteering etc
- Training and Events – find out what
training courses and events we are holding. Most are
absolutely free!!.
- Wildlife Out and About – find out
what interesting sightings of wildlife have been reported and log
your own sightings and photos.
- Useful Contact and Links – for
further information there are numerous organisations that may be of
use and their contact and web-links are provided here.
- Contact Us – be it with a query, if
you want more info, for advice or if you just want to
volunteer please get in touch.
- Downloads – all biodiversity
publications can be downloaded here.
New Stuff
New additions/updates to the biodiversity webpages include:
Coming soon
We are currently
improving our pages so please look back from time to time for new
additions.
Coming up soon:
- We will be launching the Top Wildlife
Walks
- Educational teachers packs on
biodiversity
- Advice for developers on biodiversity
If these pages do not
include something you are looking for please get in touch via the
contact us page and let us know.
The Biodiversity Unit
The Council as a public body has
been charged with a duty to conserve biodiversity throughout all of
its functions since 2006; by the Natural
Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. The Council
is keen to ensure this duty is implemented and the Biodiversity
Unit is key in the delivery of this duty.
The Biodiversity Unit sits within the Climate Change
section of the Council and its main function is to address the
pressures on biodiversity within our county borough. Working
closely with other council departments, outside organisations and
volunteers, positive changes have already been made.
The Unit has 6 team members dealing
with various sectors of the work area including contributing to the
planning process, working with community groups, biodiversity
surveying, providing an advisory service for internal departments
and the general public, running events and project work.
The NPT Biodiversity Forum
The Council's
Biodiversity Unit cannot conserve Neath Port
Talbots biodiversity alone therefore the Neath Port Talbot
Biodiversity Forum was formed in 2001. The Forum is a
partnership of organisations, experts, individuals, companies and
volunteers that work together to deliver the targets set out in the
local biodiversity action plan.
This in turn goes towards the continued conservation efforts for
the county borough's biodiversity.
The Forum meet every 2
months to discuss current projects and biodiversity work being
undertaken in the county borough. In addition, the Forum also
has a number of sub-groups that include key members with specific
expertise in a certain area of biodiversity. These sub-groups
take forward specific projects.
The Forum has also formed
a charitable arm called Biodiversity Action that is able to apply
for funding for projects.
Current Forum News
The Forum Bird sub-group
is running the second phase to a barn owl project that aims to
identify areas where barn owls are nesting and areas that would be
suitable to provide nesting sites.
Biodiversity Action is
looking into funding for a bat project that aims to identify what
species of bats are present in some of our publically accessible
woodlands.
Other projects being
looked at by the Forum include putting together a bat advise
leaflet and surveying key woodlands for dormice.
If you feel that you may
be of help to the Forum, you would like to join, or contribute to a
current activity please get in touch via the contact us page.
Page Details
Last Updated: 11.02.2010 at 15:40