Nature Protection Policy

Authors: Ruta Landgrebe, Sandra Naumann
Editor: Alexandros Kandalepas

Editor's note 23Apr13: Source D141 (common sections), D241, D341.

History and status quo

Originally adopted in 1979, the Birds Directive is the European Union's oldest piece of nature legislation, adopted as a response to growing threats to Europe's wild bird populations from pollution, habitat loss and unsustainable farming practices. The Birds Directive is complemented by the Habitats Directive, adopted in 1992, addressing the continuing deterioration of European natural habitats and the growing threats to wild species. At the heart of the Habitats Directive is the Natura2000 ecological network of protected areas, the biggest network of its kind in the world. In 2010, the network consisted of over 26,000 sites covering over 17% of the EU's land surface.

Implementation of both Directives is progressing more slowly than expected, partially due to decision-making complicated by conflicting economic and conservation objectives.

Aims and objectives

The Birds Directive aims to create a comprehensive scheme of protection for all wild bird species that naturally occur within the EU and to regulate the exploitation of these species. Recognizing that habitat loss and land degradation pose serious dangers to wild bird conservation objectives, the Directive also aims to provide sufficiently diverse habitats to maintain these populations and includes the designation of Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for migratory birds and other species.

The Habitats Directive complements the Birds Directive and promotes the maintenance of biodiversity while addressing economic, cultural, social and regional parameters. The preservation of wild flora and fauna "of community interest" is sought via the maintenance or improvement of habitats and ecosystems designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs).

Together, SPAs and SACs (which partially overlap in their territories) form a network of protected sites across the European Union referred to as Natura 2000. By protecting Europe's species and habitats, both Directives help to address land degradation and desertification risks. Specifically, the Directives aim to protect designated areas from agricultural intensification and the resultant negative effects for soil biodiversity, fertility and organic matter content, contamination, erosion, compaction and sealing.

Structure and components

The Birds Directive consists of three main elements:

  • designation of SPAs for migratory and other vulnerable wild bird species;
  • a ban on activities directly threatening birds or associated activities (trading in live/dead birds);
  • establishment of rules limiting the number of species that can be hunted, of periods during which hunting can take place and of hunting methods permitted.

Measures to preserve, maintain and re-establish biotopes and habitats under the Directive include: creating protected areas; re-establishing destroyed biotopes; creating biotopes; and keeping up with and managing in accordance with the ecological needs of habitats inside and outside the protected zones.

The Habitats Directive requires the designation and maintenance of SACs in accordance with outlined safeguards (prior assessment of potentially damaging plans and project; approval of such projects only if they represent an overriding interest and no alternative solution exists; provision of compensatory habitats). It also prohibits reducing the size or number of breeding and resting places for certain animal species. If a Member-State or the Commission hold that a particular habitat or species is endangered, MS are required to establish a plan or project to restore the SPA to a favourable conservation status.

Implementation process

All European Member States have to fully implement the provisions of both the Habitats and Birds Directives. A report on implementation progress is required every six years for the Habitats Directive and every three years for the Birds Directive.

Member States are required to register their SACs, incorporate species protection provisions in their national legislation, provide protection for the area concerned, deploy suitable management measures and monitor the quality of the SAC . The sites are designated over three stages, namely: (1) MS must draw up a list of sites hosting natural habitats and wild fauna and flora; (2) on the basis of the national lists and by agreement with the MS, the Commission will adopt a list of sites of Community importance; (3) no later than 6 years after the selection of a site, the relevant MS must designate it as a SAC. Almost 30% of the current designated terrestrial SCIs comprise forest habitats and another 30% contain partly woodland elements and related species.

MS are required to implement the law, regulations and administrative provisions necessary to comply with the Habitats Directive within two years of its notification. MS are then required to establish management plans and further actions following discussions with landowners and managers, as well as arrangements for site management. The Habitats Directive also requires active restoration of selected habitats, which also has to be outlined in the management plans.

During the ongoing 2007-2013 budgetary period, the implementation of Natura 2000 is supported by a total of seven EU funding instruments including the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD), European Fisheries Fund (EFF), Structural and Cohesion funds, EU Fund for Environment (LIFE+) and the 7th Framework Programme for Research and Development (FP7).

Relevance to LEDD in cropland, grazing land, and forests/shrubland

As the centrepieces of EU legislation on nature protection, the Habitats and the Birds Directive, which include the Natura 2000 network, have strong relevance for LEDD. Once included in the network, a particular piece of land will, via the strict requirements that landowners have to fulfil, be protected from substantial land degradation. In areas protected by the Birds and Habitats Directive, clear limitations are set on the intensification of land use associated with exhaustion of fertile soils and high erosion risks. Moreover, by connecting different kinds of habitats (e.g. forest, grassland, lakes and rivers) through smaller elements (so called step-stone biotopes), the Natura 2000 network ensures, at least in principle, that land degradation is prevented through interconnecting sites at the landscape level.

From the governance perspective, the Birds and Habitats Directive have a strong, binding character compared to many other policies studied by the LEDDRA project. Member States are obliged to assign areas for SPAs and SACs and are often faced with legal proceedings for failing to deliver on time. Nevertheless, the Natura 2000 network is still far from its completion.

One major obstacle to faster and more effective implementation of Natura 2000 is the insufficient uptake of funding instruments by some Member States. For example, agri-environment measures and dedicated payments for Natura 2000 in the context of European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development continue to be of low priority in several Member States. In addition, the use of European Regional Development Fund for biodiversity has also been rather limited. There are also clear indications that the possibility of providing financing for Natura 2000 in the context of the European Fisheries Fund has not been pursued at the national level. In general, this reveals that there are still significant difficulties in ensuring that the management of Natura 2000 be considered a high priority in the Member States.

Upon recognising in 2009 that the 2010 target of halting the loss of biodiversity would not be met, the European Commission took note that activities related to maintaining and enhancing ecosystems cannot be limited to protected areas only. Biodiversity loss can only be stopped if (basic) protection efforts are applied to general land use outside Natura 2000 sites as well.

As a result, the 2020 Biodiversity Strategy of the Commission includes a specific target for establishing green infrastructure throughout the EU territory and restoring at least 15 % of degraded ecosystems. This shift towards a more integrated approach potentially benefits efforts to combat LEDD. Green infrastructure concepts link measures addressing only species and habitat protection to water, soil and landscape protection, resulting in the enhancement of biotic and abiotic components of ecosystems. Among the measures potentially foreseen for restoration of habitats, some may explicitly address forest degradation, such as afforestation and reforestation with native deciduous tree species, measures of particular relevance for forest/shrubland.

2014-11-28 10:52:53