[GRH]

Biodiversity isn't just about species - it's about races and subspecies as well (and habitats of course). If we lose a race or a subspecies we lose biodiversity. If we took off everything that was tricky to identify a lot of opportunities would be lost. The BAP list is about decline more than anything else. There are many species on it that are common and widespread but have declined a lot (eg quite a lot of the moths!), and adding them to the BAP list opens up funding opportunities to look into the causes of that decline. Habitats are a different issue. If you only list the habitats of high value then you lose the opportunity to bring those not so good ones up to scratch, and risk those good ones that get mismanaged dropping off the list. The BAP list isn't purely for any one audience (especially not for those managing reserves), it's a list of the Government's conservation priorities.

Greg