Biodiversity

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The EU has established a system of designation of special areas of conservation under the Habitats Directive, which is transposed into domestic legislation by the The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2017 whereby the UK must establish special areas of conservation, and are under certain stringent obligations to assess plans or projects to establish their impacts on those sites.

The Wildlife and Countryside Act 1981 also makes provision in relation to sites of special scientific interest (that is, areas of land designated because of their special interest by reason of any of their flora, fauna, or geological or physiographical features).