Question reference: S5W-26866
- Asked by: Claudia Beamish, MSP for South Scotland, Scottish Labour
- Date lodged: 7 January 2020
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Current status: Answered by Mairi Gougeon on 16 January 2020
Question
To ask the Scottish Government (a) how many and (b) what proportion of designated features have been monitored as part of Scottish Natural Heritage's Site Condition Monitoring programme in each calendar year since 2009, and over what area, in hectares.
Answer
The following table shows the number and proportion of natural features covered annually through Scottish Natural Heritage’s Site Condition Monitoring (SCM) programme since 2009.
2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | |
SCM completed | 1261 | 842 | 772 | 552 | 441 | 464 | 435 | 578 | 522 | 252 | 231 |
Percentage of current features (5,388) | 23% | 16% | 14% | 10% | 8% | 9% | 8% | 11% | 10% | 5% | 4% |
It is not possible to provide a figure for the area covered by Site Condition Monitoring assessments for the principal reason that the subject of monitoring is the natural feature and the extent of coverage is not assessed for all feature types, particularly those which are small and widely scattered.
It would also be extremely difficult to disaggregate the area of coverage where natural features are shared between different designations applying to the same area of land (as is frequently the case between Sites of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI) and Special Areas of Conservation or Special Protection Areas) or for SSSIs whose notified interests include species whose spatial requirements within the SSSI includes both designated and non-designated habitat to varying degrees.