Contact
Andreas Baumueller
(Biodiversity Policy Officer)
WWF European Policy Office (EPO),
Brussels (BE)
T: +32 2 740 09 21
Europe is home to an extraordinary range of habitats and species, from alpine peaks to romantic beaches in the Mediterranean and mystical forests in the Carpathians.
However, human activities including urbanisation, pollution and intensive agriculture have developed to a level that is causing severe environmental degradation. Some studies predict that half of the European endemic species will be lost between 2010 and 2050.
The Birds and Habitats Directives are the EU’s most significant contribution to the aim of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010, a goal set out by the EU Heads of State at the Gothenburg Summit in 2001.
Developing an efficient European conservation network
The European wide network of protected areas, called Natura 2000, is the backbone of EU’s action to protect biological diversity. Although the Natura 2000 network covers approximately 18 per cent of European territory, the designation of the sites has not been easy in the EU Member States.
The extension of Natura 2000 to 12 additional countries, after the EU enlargements of 2004 and 2007, is a further challenge.
With the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in January 2007, two hotspots of biological diversity have become part of the EU borders: the Carpathian Mountains and the Danube Delta, both included in the WWF’s “Global 200”, the two hundred most valuable natural areas on earth.
It is essential that the Natura 2000 network becomes reality in new EU countries promptly and effectively, to avoid irreversible losses.
WWF’s overall objective is to stop the loss of biodiversity on the planet. This includes all species and habitats listed in the Habitats Directive, such as the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) in Spain and the marine turtles (Careta-careta) in Greece.
Such species should benefit from a ‘favourable conservation status’, while landowners and people that contribute to accomplish this, thanks to their activities in Natura 2000 sites, should receive sufficient funding.
This helps ensure long-term nature conservation, as well as the achievement of the economic and social objectives set out in the Directives.
WWF seeks to ensure that no EU funds oppose nature objectives and presses for an approach that includes strengthened monitoring of species.
International Conventions
WWF also links work on biodiversity at a European level with EU positions in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other multilateral agreements.
WWF’s European Policy Office supports the work of TRAFFIC, WWF’s and IUCN’s wildlife trade monitoring network, to avoid over-exploitation and trade in priority species and to help implement and enforce the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna & Flora (CITES).
The Birds and Habitats Directives are the EU’s most significant contribution to the aim of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010, a goal set out by the EU Heads of State at the Gothenburg Summit in 2001.
Developing an efficient European conservation network
The European wide network of protected areas, called Natura 2000, is the backbone of EU’s action to protect biological diversity. Although the Natura 2000 network covers approximately 18 per cent of European territory, the designation of the sites has not been easy in the EU Member States.
The extension of Natura 2000 to 12 additional countries, after the EU enlargements of 2004 and 2007, is a further challenge.
With the accession of Romania and Bulgaria in January 2007, two hotspots of biological diversity have become part of the EU borders: the Carpathian Mountains and the Danube Delta, both included in the WWF’s “Global 200”, the two hundred most valuable natural areas on earth.
It is essential that the Natura 2000 network becomes reality in new EU countries promptly and effectively, to avoid irreversible losses.
WWF’s overall objective is to stop the loss of biodiversity on the planet. This includes all species and habitats listed in the Habitats Directive, such as the Iberian Lynx (Lynx pardinus) in Spain and the marine turtles (Careta-careta) in Greece.
Such species should benefit from a ‘favourable conservation status’, while landowners and people that contribute to accomplish this, thanks to their activities in Natura 2000 sites, should receive sufficient funding.
This helps ensure long-term nature conservation, as well as the achievement of the economic and social objectives set out in the Directives.
WWF seeks to ensure that no EU funds oppose nature objectives and presses for an approach that includes strengthened monitoring of species.
International Conventions
WWF also links work on biodiversity at a European level with EU positions in the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and other multilateral agreements.
WWF’s European Policy Office supports the work of TRAFFIC, WWF’s and IUCN’s wildlife trade monitoring network, to avoid over-exploitation and trade in priority species and to help implement and enforce the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna & Flora (CITES).