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Nature report highlights 'decline' of species

Nature Commission A team photo of Head of Operations and Education Angela Salmon (left), CEO Jessi Jennings (middle) and Ecologist Charlotte Burgoine (right) stood in front of blue sea. There are walls either side of them. Nature Commission
Angela Salmon (left), Jessi Jennings (middle) and Charlotte Burgoine said more data was needed to help wildlife

Guernsey and Herm are experiencing a decline in wildlife species and habitats, according to the first State of Nature report by the Nature Commission.

Commission CEO Jessi Jennings said the report helped understand the state of the islands' habitats and species.

The report also highlighted trends in the abundance and distribution of habitats and species where possible, she added.

Ms Jennings said the report highlighted the lack of data collection, and how the States of Guernsey, businesses and the general public needed to help "enhance and protect" the environment.

'Data poor'

“One of the main themes from the report is that we are very data poor.

"There is a lot of things we don’t know about our natural habitats and species.

"But what it does show is that species and habitats are declining - that is a real concern in the report."

She said the commission was looking to "fill the gaps", along with other environmental organisations.

"There is a big role the government can play, businesses can play and there’s a really big role the general public can play as well," added Ms Jennings.

A birds-eye view of a beach on Herm. There is a green cliff area with coastal path running through it and white sand along the beach area. On the right is clear blue sea with a rock at the centre.
The Nature Commission's ecologist Charlotte Burgoine said the State of Nature report highlighted a lack of data in the marine environment

Ecologist Charlotte Burgoine said the report highlighted a lack of data for the marine environment.

She said it was "difficult to survey" and she wanted to encourage more data collection in this area.

“Also, species groups like fungi and lichen are quite a specialist interest. They are quite hard to identify, so that is something we could do with working on," said Ms Burgoine.

"We are going to be working on a baseline data collection programme. We are going to look at the data gaps, try and figure out how we can go about addressing those."

She said they needed to gather "consistent scientific long-term data" to keep projects running and to analyse trends.

Angela Salmon smiling and wearing a grey fleece jacked with the Nature Commission logo, which is green and blue. She is stood in front of green hedges and holding a piece of paper with pictures of butterflies.
Angela Salmon (pictured) said there was a series of talks to break down the States of Nature report 2024 for the general public

Head of operations and education Angela Salmon said a series of talks was being held throughout October to help people understand the report, and find out how to help make a difference.

She said: "It is a big report, so it is good to break that down into smaller chunks so people can understand the information.

"People can get involved and I think it is important that this report doesn’t sit on the shelf and get dusty."

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