Networks and teachers, rangers and others in education.

Habitat networks are referred to in a range of international, UK and Scottish legislation and policy, and the following are the main instances.  More detail can be found in 'networks in policy and practice' and 'networks and land managers'.

World - the report from the World Summit on Sustainable Development  in Johannesburg in 2002 (the successor to the Earth Summit in 1992) includes an action to promote the development of networks and corridors.  In response to climate change, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change have also stressed the importance of networks.

Europe and UK- at a European Union level, the European Habitats Directive asks member states to work to improve the 'ecological coherence' of the sites it protects.  This should involve ensuring that sites have good links to adjacent areas of habitat, so that species are protected in the long term. The Habitats Directive reference was translated into UK law through the Conservation Regulations in 1994.

Scotland - more recently, Scotland introduced the Nature Conservation (Scotland) Act 2004  , which puts a specific duty on public organisations to have due regard to the Scottish biodiversity strategy  . That strategy includes an aim to achieve a landscape where:

"Organisms can move, feed, reproduce and disperse effectively, and are better able to adapt to changing circumstances of land use and climate change".

Habitat networks are also specifically mentioned in the new Scottish Planning Policy  and in the National Planning Framework  .  This new policy is being implemented as part of the Government's aim to streamline the planning system and the policy document includes a wide range of actions which the planning system should be trying to deliver. It asks planning authorities to:

"seek to prevent further fragmentation or isolation of habitats and identify opportunities to restore links which have been broken."