The full and effective implementation of EU nature legislation is central to achieving the EU biodiversity targets for 2020. Article 6 of the habitats directive in particular provides an important tool for ensuring the right balance is struck between economic developments and the need to preserv...
The European Union has nine biogeographical regions, each with its own characteristic blend of vegetation, climate and geology. Sites of Community Importance are selected according to each region on the basis of national lists submitted by each Member State within that region. Working at this le...
One of the tasks of the EC Study on ‘evaluating and improving permitting procedures related to Natura 2000 required’ involved the compilation of a series of case studies on the practical implementation of the Article 6.3 permit procedure. A total of 12 such case studies are presented in this doc...
By implementing the Birds Directive, all 27 EU Member States can achieve far more together than they could if each operated on its own. In particular they can: protect all bird species from persecution and unsustainable exploitation, and establish a comprehensive system to manage hunting, which ...
Alien species are species that have been transported outside their natural ecological range as a result of human action. The vast majority are unable to survive in an unfamiliar environment without human intervention and eventually die off. But some species manage to adapt to their new surroundi...
The Habitats Directive represents the single most ambitious initiative ever undertaken to conserve Europe’s biodiversity. It was adopted 20 years ago in response to a growing concern, expressed by the majority of Europeans at the time, over the relentless decline and wholesale destruction of nat...
