All-Wales LRC network is launched

A report by Rob Davies, Manager West Wales Biodiversity Information Centre.

Representatives from the major conservation groups across Wales gathered at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff on Wednesday 28th November 2007 to celebrate the completion of a Wales-wide network of Local Records Centres. Various speakers were introduced by chair Paul Lovelock (President of the Board of Trustees of the Museum) to present the views of the major stakeholders in this exercise:

• Dr David Parker (Director of Science, CCW) explained how LRCs can deliver many information objectives on behalf of the Countryside Council For Wales and its significance for the National Biodiversity Network.
• Jane Davidson (Minister for Environment, Sustainability and Housing, Welsh Assembly Government) gave glowing praise for the achievement of the LRC network and highlighted its importance within the national strategy

Jane Davidson (Photo: Dave Cope)

• Paul Sinnudurai (Senior Ecologist and Policy Officer, Brecon Beacons National Park) gave a case history for the close workings of a National Park and a LRC (BIS)
• David Clements (Managing director of David Clements Ecology) clearly showed the benefits of a private consultant making full use of SEWBReC
• Barry Stewart (West Glamorganshire County Moth Recorder) gave an honest account from the Recorder's perspective, explaining what the costs were in relinquishing data and how this had been
  outweighed by the overall benefits of help with the recording process
• Derek Moore (OBE, WWBIC Director) gave a brilliant overview which looked at the long and celebrated history of biological recording in Britain with great anecdotes of "what makes recorders tick".

Derek called on the Welsh Assembly Government not to underestimate this enormous army of voluntary recorders and to keep the LRCs fully supported. Topics for discussion included who should handle marine data and it was suggested that LRCs played a greater role in informing the agricultural community. Paul Lovelock summed up the occasion admirably and made his
personal plea that the Pembrokeshire Islands achieve World Heritage status.

As the UKBAP 2010 deadline for reversing the loss of biodiversity, draws near, governing bodies are under increasing legal pressure to have regard for biodiversity in all forms of land use planning and environmental management, and conservation agencies are having to work harder and more strategically to deliver positive results. In the past it has been extremely difficult
for both to do this because the exponential growth in biodiversity information has been locked up on paper, in filing cabinets, and in the personal knowledge banks of a multitude of disparate individuals.

For the whole of Wales these information silos have now been freed up by LRCs, computerised and made readily reportable from four regional spatial databases so that decisions which affect land use and conservation across the whole of Wales, whether by individual landowners or great government agencies, may now be made in light of the best available information on species, habitats and protected areas.

We also held the first meeting of the Chairs and Managers of all four Wales LRCs in Cardiff the day before the launch. All four LRCs have clearly benefitted for the spirit of cooperation that exists within this group.