The Countdown Programme

The Countdown Programme is the name given to the biodiversity action planning process in the Cheshire region. It is driven forward by the Cheshire region Biodiversity Partnership (CrBP), of which Cheshire Wildlife Trust is a founding Member. The CrBP now comprises 36 organisations with an interest in nature conservation from the statutory, non-statutory, voluntary and business sectors.

Since 1997, there has been a Local Biodiversity Action Plan (LBAP) for Cheshire and Wirral containing conservation strategies for the most rare, endangered and locally important plants, animals and habitats in the region.

This plan has been reviewed annually and since 2000 has been produced on CD ROM with around 2,500 copies distributed each year in this country and abroad.

Today, the 7 th annual update in the Programme, known as “Countdown 2004, A Review of Biodiversity Conservation in 2003”, contains action plans for over 50 species ranging from the smallest insects to the atlantic grey seal and for 19 habitats from coastal saltmarsh to orchards. This variety of species and habitats reflects the exciting diversity that exists in Cheshire's wildlife – the Countdown Programme aims to conserve this rich biodiversity before it is too late.

200 copies of the Countdown CD have recently been distributed to delegates at the 7 th Meeting of the Conference of Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP7), held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, in February 2004 by Cheshire Wildlife Trust's Director, who attended this Conference. The Convention on Biological Diversity was first signed by the UK and 150 other countries at the Rio Earth Summit in 1992. It was from this Convention that the idea of Local Biodiversity Action Plans was first developed.

The Countdown Programme is based on ACTION. It includes practical conservation projects on the ground which EVERYONE can get involved with. Its vision is of a land and sea richer in wildlife by 2010. This reflects the targets set down at the World Summit on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg in August 2002.

In an attempt to slow down the devastating rate of species extinction globally, the World Summit asked nations to report “a significant reduction in biodiversity loss by 2010”. This gives us less than 6 years to halt and reverse the loss of species and habitats in Cheshire and Wirral.