Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC)

Joint Nature Conservation Committee (JNCC) Monkstone House City Road Peterborough PE1 1JY United Kingdom Tel. +44 1733 866 815 Fax +44 1733 555 948 comment@jncc.gov.uk  http://www.jncc.gov.uk

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Current and Future Activities

Establishment and Mission

Board Members and Staff Members

Working Style

List of Selected Publications 

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Current and Future Activities

Present Priority Fields

The  strategic objectives, set out below, focus on the priority issues for the JNCC.

• Vision for nature conservation : develop and renew a shared vision for wildlife and natural features, and in partnership with others, champion it to UK Government bodies and other organisations and encourage them to implement approaches that reflect the value and needs of wildlife and natural features.
• Provision of information: ensure that the UK Government and other organisations are provided with scientifically robust and policy relevant information about biological and geological diversity that they need to make decisions that will protect and enhance the environment in the UK and internationally.
• European and international influencing: contribute expertise to the development and implementation of legislation, agreements and policies that affect the European and wider international environment to ensure that they deliver nature conservation gains both within the UK and elsewhere.
• UK co-ordination: provide strategic co-ordination, evaluation and, where necessary, leadership of UK-wide strategies, policies, practices and standards that affect nature conservation, to enhance the protection and enrichment of the UK ’s wildlife and natural features, with a particular focus on the terrestrial and inshore marine environment.
• Nature conservation beyond territorial waters: advise on and, where necessary, lead the development and implementation of initiatives to protect and enhance the biological and geological diversity of the UK ’s marine environment outside territorial waters (beyond 12 nautical miles from the shore).

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Background and Mission

Establishment

The JNCC, originally established under the Environmental Protection Act 1990, was reconstituted by the Natural Environment and Rural Communities Act 2006. Support is provided to the JNCC by a company limited by guarantee (JNCC Support Co) that the Committee established in 2005.

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Mission

The JNCC is the statutory adviser to Government on UK and international nature conservation. Its work contributes to maintaining and enriching biological diversity, conserving geological features and sustaining natural systems.

The JNCC delivers the UK and international responsibilities of the Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside (CNCC), the Countryside Council for Wales (CCW), Natural England, and Scottish Natural Heritage (SNH). The functions that arise from these responsibilities are principally to:

• advise Government  on the development and implementation of policies for, or affecting, nature conservation in the UK and internationally;
• provide advice and disseminate knowledge on nature conservation issues affecting the UK and internationally;
• establish common standards throughout the UK for nature conservation, including monitoring, research, and the analysis of results;
• commission or support research which it deems relevant to these functions.

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Board Members

The JNCC has of 14 Committee Members coming from the UK ’s country nature agencies. The Members are appointed for a three-year term and they can be re-appointed. Their term of appointment differs.

Chairman Dr. Peter Bridgewater	Former Secretary General of the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands
Deputy Chairman Prof. David Ingram	Honorary Professor at the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow
Committee Members Dr. Lucinda Blakiston Houston	Chairman, Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside
Dr. Bob Brown	Biologist, Council for Nature Conservation and the Countryside
Poul Christensen	Deputy Chairman, Natural England, (NE)
David Crawley	Former senior civil servant   Scottish Natural Heritage, (SNH)
Prof. Peter Doyle	Independent, Professor of Geosciences at the University of Greenwich
Prof. David Hill	Board Member, Natural England, (NE)
John Lloyd Jones	Chairman, Countryside Council for Wales , (CCW)
David Pritchard	Independent, International Treaties Adviser at the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Birdlife International
Bryan Riddleston	Chairman of the Royal Society for the protection of Birds (RSPB) Wales Committee Member of the Countryside Council for Wales , (CCW)
Andrew Thin	Chairman, Scottish Natural Heritage, (SNH)
Prof. Michael Usher	Independent, Trustee of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and of the Woodland Trust
Prof. Lynda Warren	Independent, Emeritus Professor of Environmental Law Member of the Royal Commission on Environmental Pollution, (RCEP)

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Staff members

There are more than 130 staff members working for the JNCC. The JNCC comprises 79 scientific staff and 32 administrative staff. Deryck Steer is the Managing Director.

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Work Style

Tasks of the JNCC

The JNCC's special functions are principally:

• to advise ministers on the development of policies for, or affecting nature conservation in Great Britain and internationally;
• to provide advice and knowledge to anyone on nature conservation issues affecting Great Britain and internationally;
• to establish common standards throughout Great Britain for the monitoring of nature conservation and for research into nature conservation and the analysis of results;
• to commission or support research which the Committee deems relevant to the special functions.

Additionally, the JNCC is obliged by law to produce an Annual Report for the Department of the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, which includes a financial statement.

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Substructure and Working Groups

The JNCC's work falls into two broad categories: core work, which covers all of the main advisory functions, and a series of projects that are of a fixed duration.
The work can be done through the Committee's own Support Unit, composed of staff from the three agencies, by one country agency leading on behalf of the others, or through a network of agency staff. Much of the work is contracted out.
The special functions are managed by a joint Management Group, which includes the Managing Director, Projects Director and Business Manager of the Support Unit and country agency representatives.
The JNCC comprises 51 scientific staff and 38 administrative staff.

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Type of Advice

The JNCC is a statutory adviser to UK Government on nature conservation issues affecting Great Britain as a whole and the international environment. This advice may cover a wide range of issues, as listed under ‘present priority fields’ above. Advice may be provided in response to a specific Government request, or may be provided at the JNCC’s own initiative.

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JNCC Meetings

The Committee meets regularly four times a year in March, June, September and December.

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Activities in the EEAC Network

The JNCC joined EEAC in 2001.

It is an active member of the Working Groups Biodiversity, Marine and Sustainable Development and observer to the Working Groups Governance, Energy and Agriculture.

Mr. Marcus Yeo, Director of Resources and External Affairs in JNCC, is currently acting as EEAC Office supervisor and consequently he is also a member of the EEAC Steering Committee.

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List of Selected Publications

For a list of previous publications please click here. More information on the full range of JNCC publications, leaflets and information is available via the JNCC website http://www.jncc.gov.uk

• Common Standards Monitoring for Designated Sites: First Six Years Report, (June 2006);
• Ideas for a UK Conservation Framework (May 2006).

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Last update: 20 September 2007