Catchment-Sensitive Farming: Tackling Diffuse Water Pollution from Agriculture in England —Policies and Drivers - Water and Agriculture: Sustainability, Markets and Policies - page 265

Birds and Habitats Directives
At the EU level, the 1979 Birds Directive (79/409/EEC)
(http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/nature/directive/birdshome_en.htm) and 1992
Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) (http://europa. eu.int / comm. / environment / nature /
nature_conservation / eu_nature_legislation/habitats_directive / index_en.htm) have
established Special Protection Areas (SPAs) and Special Areas of Conservation (SAC)
that member states are committed to protect and improve.
The 1979 Birds Directive requires the maintenance of favourable conservation status
of all wild bird species across their distributional range and, as already stated, the
establishment of SPAs for rare or vulnerable bird species. In the UK, 237 SPAs have been
classified covering 1.25m ha. Other requirements include a general scheme of wild bird
protection, restrictions on the sale and keeping of wild birds and hunting restrictions.
The 1992 Habitats Directive requires member states to introduce a range of measures
including the protection and surveillance of habitats and species listed in the Directive.
Each member state has had to put together a list of national sites containing the
189 habitats and 788 species listed in the Directive (567 UK sites covering 2.16m ha have
been listed). These sites are designated as SAC. The Directive applies the precautionary
principle to SAC so development projects are only permitted in these areas if it is
ascertained that there is no adverse impact.
More recently SPAs and SAC have been used to create a European-wide network of
protected areas known as Natura 2000. This network of protected sites, which represent
areas of the highest value for natural habitats and species of plants and animals which are
rare, endangered or vulnerable in the European Community, is essentially a re-
commitment to the preservation and protection of these SPA and SAC sites.
At the national level, the 1981 Wildlife and Countryside Act (see
www.defra.gov.uk/wildlife-countryside/cl/) implemented the obligations of the Bern
Convention and EC Birds Directive in England and Wales and established Sites of
Special Scientific Interest (SSSIs) as well as making it an offence to kill wild animals and
birds. There are currently 4113 SSSIs in England covering 7% of the country — all SAC,
SPA and Ramsar sites are designated SSSIs. Defra has a challenging Public Service
Agreement (PSA) target to get 95% of SSSIs into a favourable condition by 2010.
On an area basis, 1.5% of SSSIs (62 sites) in England are in an unfavourable
condition because of water quality and DWPA. In 2003, of the 43% of SSSIs in an
unfavourable condition, on rivers and streams, 70% were affected by diffuse pollution.
Diffuse pollution also impacts 35% of standing water/canals, 15% of fen, marsh and
swamp, as well as 5% of lowland neutral grassland.
The size of the problem in the UK
Phosphorus
Agriculture is responsible for about 43% of phosphorus inputs to surface waters in the
UK. Human and household waste is responsible for some 24%. Detergents were
responsible for about 19% of inputs and industry and background sources account for the
remaining 14 % of phosphorus inputs in the UK (Morse et al. 1993).