Commission acts to protect endangered animals and plants in the EU's mountain regions

European Commission

The European Commission has approved a list of 959 nature sites in mountain regions of the European Union. The approval signifies an enhanced protection of these areas and the many endangered animal and plant species which live and grow there. The Commission's list covers sites in the Alps, the Pyrenees, the Apennines and the Fennoscandian mountains. It includes endangered animal and plant species and habitats such as brown bear, Yellow Lady's-slipper and mountain hay meadows. The protection of these species is scientifically considered to be of European importance, and a joint EU effort is therefore necessary to ensure bio-diversity and the conservation of natural fauna and flora in these mountain regions of Europe. It is also a major step forward in establishing Natura 2000, the network of protected sites in the EU.

Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said: "Nature protection knows no national borders. Only by working together at EU level can we maximise the protection of our most valuable species and habitats. With the adoption of the EU list for mountain regions we can now focus better our work on financing and management of the Natura 2000 network in these regions. I expect the four lists for the remaining regions to be completed in the course of 2004."

Biodiversity in the Alpine regions

The reduction and loss of biodiversity in Europe has accelerated dramatically over recent decades. The pressures for this loss are urban, infrastructure and tourism development, agricultural and forestry intensification, etc. In order to safeguard Europe's most important wildlife area an EU-wide network of nature protection areas are being established the Natura 2000 network.

Many of the endangered animals, plants and habitat types in Europe can be found in Alpine regions. In fact, as many as 97 animal species, 63 plant species and 99 habitats occurring in this region are considered to be in need of site protection by EU legislation.

Adopting an EU list of sites in the Alpine (mountain) regions to be included in the Natura 2000 network is thus an important step towards halting the decline of Europe's biodiversity. The protected sites extend on average to about 37% of the alpine territory in seven Member States (from 13% in Austria up to about 50% in Finland, Spain and Sweden).

Increased protection for Alpine regions

Being part of the Natura 2000 network means that the nature areas in question benefit from increased protection as set out in the Habitats Directive. Member states must take all the necessary measures to guarantee their conservation and avoid their deterioration. This does not mean that all economic activity in the sites is excluded, but it requires Member States to ensure that such activities are carried out in a way which is compatible with the conservation of the habitats and species for which the sites have been designated.

Where development proposals are put forward, these are subject to detailed assessment and, where negative impacts are identified, developments can only be permitted if there are no viable alternative sites and where it can be demonstrated that there is an overriding public interest. In the event that such a development does proceed, there is a requirement to compensate for the loss of habitat either by the creation or restoration of a replacement habitat or by improving management of other sites to ensure that the integrity of the overall network is retained.

Second bio-geographical list

The lists of sites foreseen in the Habitats Directive are divided in six bio-geographic regions within the territory of the Union. The first list for the Macaronesian region (Azores and Canary islands) was agreed in December 2001.

The Alpine list is the second bio-geographical list of sites to reach the stage of formal approval. The lists are established on the basis of proposals made by the Member States, which are subsequently evaluated in scientific seminars with the assistance of the European Environmental Agency.

Next steps

The next step for the Alpine network is now the designation of all the sites by the Member States under their national law, including the granting of an appropriate national protection status and establishing the necessary management regime. The Commission decision does however stress that for 17 habitat types and 8 species (the so called "reserve-list"), Member States still need to complete the list with further site proposals. This last fine tuning of the list will make the network even more efficient in the future.

Progress report

The adoption of the list of Natura 2000 sites in the Alpine region is one more step in the implementation of the Habitats Directive. A comprehensive overview of the progress made from the entry into force of the Directive, in June 1994, is given in a progress report recently approved by the European Commission. This report, based on national reports by each of the Member States, shows that, while there have been serious delays in implementation, the recent progress provides ground for optimism with regard to the habitat protection requirements of the Directive.

Although important progress has been made in selecting proposed sites of Community importance under the Directive, particularly since 1999, the process is nevertheless several years behind schedule. Significant attention is still needed to complete the process of site selection and designation - the remaining bio-geographical lists are scheduled for adoption in the course of 2004 - and to ensure sites are appropriately protected and managed to secure favourable conservation status.

There is a strong need to develop management objectives and plans for the proposed sites of EU importance. Higher priority must also be given to species protection measures and the establishment of surveillance and monitoring schemes to assess conservation status of habitats and species of EU interest.

The Habitats Directive is one of the main tools of the EU for meeting the target set by the EU heads of state in Göteborg in June 2001, of halting the decline of biodiversity in Europe by 2010. The effective implementation of the Directive and the establishment of the Natura 2000 network are therefore critical to meeting that target.

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