Orford Ness is an internationally important site for nature conservation. It contains a significant portion of the European reserve of vegetated shingle habitat, which is internationally scarce, highly fragile and very easily damaged. Together with Havergate Island the site is a designated National Nature Reserve and forms part of: the Alde-Ore Estuary Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI); the Alde, Ore &amp; Butley Estuaries and the Orfordness-Shingle Street Special Area of Conservation (SAC); the Alde-Ore Estuary Special Protection Area (SPA); the Alde-Ore Estuary Ramsar Site site; the Suffolk Coasts and Heaths Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty (AONB); and the Suffolk Heritage Coast. It is also listed as of national importance in the Geological Conservation Review (GC), as a grade 1 site in the Nature Conservation Review. (NCR) and qualifies for the DEFRA Environmentally Sensitive Area (ESA) scheme.