Evaluation of the Compliance and Quality of Biodiversity Duty Reports 2015

Footnotes

1. Scottish Government (2013): 2020 Challenge for Scotland's biodiversity: A strategy for the conservation and enhancement of biodiversity in Scotland, Edinburgh, Scottish Government.

2. Scottish Government (2015): Scotland's biodiversity: a route map to 2020, Edinburgh, Scottish Government.

3. The Aichi Biodiversity Targets can be accessed at: https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/

4. One public body did not respond when contacted, three indicated in the survey that they did not wish to be contacted further, and one stated that the report was not publicly available.

5. It is noted that some of these targets may be relevant to the Scottish Government's biodiversity related activities.

6. See Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004, accessed at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2004/6/contents on 23 ^rd September 2016.

7. See Wildlife and Natural Environment (Scotland) Act 2011, accessed at: http://www.legislation.gov.uk/asp/2011/6/contents/enacted on 23 ^rd September 2016.

8. Note that public bodies that were formed after this date should publish their first biodiversity duty report within three years of their establishment.

9. Drawing on the Scottish Government's National Public Bodies Directory ( http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/public-bodies/about/Bodies), this study identified 139 public bodies as being in existence in Scotland in 2012. This total counts the six Justices of the Peace Advisory Committees as one public body.

10. The template is available on the Biodiversity Scotland website, accessed at: http://www.biodiversityscotland.gov.uk/duty/work/results/ on 23 ^rd September 2016.

11. Note that where more than one response was received for any one public body, the responses were combined and counted as one response for the public body concerned.

12. See the National Public Bodies Directory, accessed at: http://www.gov.scot/Topics/Government/public-bodies/about/Bodies on 23 ^rd September 2016.

13. The Aichi targets are available from the Convention on Biological Diversity internet site, accessed at: https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/ on 23 ^rd September 2016.

14. Note that only 56 reports were reviewed during this study; the remaining five reports could not be located. Of the five, one public body did not respond when contacted, three indicated in the survey that they did not wish to be contacted further, and one stated that the report was not publicly available.

15. See Biodiversity Scotland, accessed at: http://www.biodiversityscotland.gov.uk/ on 23 ^rd September 2016.

16. A list of the published biodiversity duty reports about which the Scottish Government was notified is provided on the Biodiversity Scotland website ( http://www.biodiversityscotland.gov.uk/duty/work/results/). However, this only provides links to 35 of the 61 reports believed to have been produced. In total, 56 reports have been identified by this study. Of the remaining five, one public body did not respond when contacted, three indicated in the survey that they did not wish to be contacted further, and one stated that the report was not publicly available.

17. See the biodiversity duty report list, accessed at: http://www.biodiversityscotland.gov.uk/duty/work/results/ on 23 ^rd September 2016

18. National Biodiversity Network, accessed at: https://nbn.org.uk/ on 23 ^rd September 2016.

19. Biodiversity Action Reporting System, accessed at: http://ukbars.defra.gov.uk/ on 23 ^rd September 2016.

20. For example, the Scottish Government may be able to carry out biodiversity related activities that are not available to other organisations.

21. Note that the public body that was erroneously invited to provide a response (they were not in existence during the required time period) has been excluded from this analysis since the survey questions are not relevant to their situation.

22. It is not possible to check every answer given by the respondents and it is assumed that the majority of the answers are factually correct and representative of the public body for which they are being provided.

23. Keep Scotland Beautiful has run three 'supporting reporting' events to help those responsible for producing climate change duty reports.

24. Skills Development Scotland (2014): Sustainability Report 2013/14, Produced October 2014.

25. Aberdeenshire Council (2014): Biodiversity Duty Reporting - December 2014, Reporting period 2011-2014

26. Scottish Water (2014): Sustainability Report, 2014, Doing the right thing for Scotland.

27. Scottish Enterprise (2014): Biodiversity duty report 2011-2014, accessed at: http://www.scottish-enterprise.com/knowledge-hub/articles/publication/biodiversity-report on 23 ^rd September 2016.

28. The Office of the Scottish Road Works Commissioner, Biodiversity Duty Report 2011-2014, Version 1.0

29. National Museums Scotland (2015): Biodiversity Duty Report (2011-2014), January 2015.

30. Forestry Commission Scotland (2015): The Scottish Forestry Strategy: progress report (2014-15) and future implementation (2015-18).

31. South Ayrshire Council (2014): Draft statutory biodiversity duty report, 2011-2014.

32. Scottish Environment Protection Agency: biodiversity duty reporting 2011-2014.

33. Care Inspectorate (2015): Biodiversity duty reporting 2011-2014.

34. See Recommendation 1, which suggests that the reports themselves are hosted on the Scottish Government's own website. This will ensure that the links provided in the guidance do not become broken.

35. Live as of 5 ^th May 2016. Please note that these links may become inactive or no longer function if changes are made to the webpages.

36. The brand name was introduced in 2015.