Bermuda will soon get a co-ordinator of the Biodiversity Project and Action Plan, according to Jack Ward, the director of Conservation Services.

Asked to give a progress report of BPAC, Mr. Ward said that Government?s recent approval of of the post was a ?major step in the right direction?.

The co-ordinator?s job would be to track progress and report on the action plan, as well as to promote its goals and celebrate successes.

?The plan is to have a host or organisations conduct activities,? Mr. Ward said. ?So having someone there report and cajole and encourage progress toward any commitments ... is a major step in the right direction.?

But Mr. Ward added: ?To some extent people could argue that the plan has been limping along a bit. Progress certainly has been made but not in as effective a fashion as we would probably like to see.?

BPAC, a five year conservation plan, was launched last year after months of brainstorming involving dozens of people and organisations. The 70-page document was described by the then Environment Minister Dennis Lister as a ?comprehensive blueprint for conservation in Bermuda? and lists a number of goals including increasing the amount of conserved open spaces by 25 percent and creating a list of protected animals and birds.

?We can no longer afford to think that protecting our natural heritage is something we will tackle if we have time,? warns the document.

?Protecting our biodiversity is about protecting the earth?s life support system and our own quality of life and it should be viewed as a long term investment in our future.?

The plan also aims to integrate biodiversity conservation into every Government programme and policy decisions by 2007. And it aims to improve public awareness and education on conservation issues by 35 percent in every age group.

Based on the Bermuda Biodiversity Country Study, a comprehensive audit of the Island?s biodiversity the plan calls upon each individual to become conservation activists.

And it envisions a 25 percent increase in ?active participation? of the community and the private sector in ?ecologically responsible behaviours?.

Mr. Ward reported that a grant scheme for environmental projects had met with some success and another of the plan?s recommendations ? to establish legislative protection for the Island?s species had already been implemented.

The plan itself had been used effectively in a funding proposal to create a woodland management plan, he added.

?We kind of inherited a mandate from the deliberations of about 100 people that participated in developing this plan. As a result, much of the work to make it all happen falls on Conservation Services. It?s worthy of note that many of these things in the plan are activities that predated the plan,? he continued.

?One of the big holes was that there was virtually no legislative protection for animals and plants. So the Protected Species Act which came into force in April this year creates the framework for establishing protection. That was one thing that?s gone ahead.?

The co-ordinator?s post has not yet been advertised, and would take a few months before it is properly established, Mr. Ward said.