Meeting favourable condition targets

It can take a long time to see improvements in the condition of natural habitats and species. Therefore our first goal in achieving favourable condition is to ensure the necessary management measures are in place that will lead to the sites achieving favourable condition in due course. The management measures should address the reasons for the initial unfavourable assessment and should safeguard the feature across the majority (95%) of the site. Where damaging grazing impacts occur on extensive upland sites, this may include several ownerships. There are a number of ways to deal with grazing management but some form of written assurance is required before a feature can be considered to be 'recovering' and therefore contribute to the Scottish Government's target. This could take the form of:

• A private owner, public body or conservation organisation agreeing to carry out the necessary management as part of an agreed management plan,
• A concordat or memorandum of understanding being in place
• A Rural Development Contract (RDC) (or other agri-environment schemes)
• Actions supported by an SNH Management agreement / grant or FCS grant Regulatory provisions - such as Deer Control Agreements under Section 7 of the Deer (Scotland) Act  or actions required by Good Agricultural Environmental Condition cross-compliance