Natura 2000 Danube-Carpathian Region

Geographical location:

Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Bulgaria

Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Croatia
Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Czech Republic
Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Estonia
Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Hungary
Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Latvia
Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Lithuania
Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Poland
Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Romania
Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Slovakia
Europe/Middle-East > Eastern Europe > Slovenia

Summary

Enlargement of the European Union to include candidate countries in Central and Eastern Europe as well as the Mediterranean presents not only an urgent challenge to safeguard the rich biodiversity in these areas, but also an historic opportunity to promote sustainable development in an expanded Europe.

The project will focus particularly on effective implementation of EU legislation with regard to nature conservation and water management (Natura 2000, Water Framework Directive) as well as support WWF efforts to reform the Common Agricultural Policy. More generally, the project will seek to build capacity of WWF organizations and strategic partners in the EU accession countries, both to achieve direct project aims as well as to develop strong partners for the future.

Communications will also play an important role in the project, both towards a broader public ("Enlargement enriches the EU") as well as within WWF itself.

Background

Hot spots and disasters, from the so-called "Black Triangle" in northern Bohemia to the death by cyanide of the Tisza river, have left a popular impression in Western minds of an environmental disaster zone east of the Oder. In fact, these hot spots conceal a biological wealth that is significantly greater and better preserved than that in Western Europe. The Yellowstones and Yosemites of Europe are in the east, not the west of the continent.

All of the 13 accession countries are extremely rich in biodiversity and either form or are integral parts of the following European Priority G200 Ecoregions: European-Mediterranean Mountane Mixed Forests (Alps, Carpathians...) (No. 77), Danube Delta River (No.159), North-East Atlantic Shelf, including Wadden Sea and the Baltic Sea (No. 200), Mediterranean Sea (No. 199), Mediterranean Forests, Woodlands and Scrub (No. 123), Caucasus-Anatolian Hyrcanian Temperate Forests (No.78).

At the same time, societies in the candidate countries are still in many ways more sustainable, with a much smaller environmental footprint, than those in existing EU member states. Consumption is still limited; public transportation is generally very good; settlement is concentrated, with low demand on resources; many areas still rely on extensive agriculture. Expansion of the European Union is likely to have a significant impact on the biodiversity and societies in the accession countries. By actively influencing the EU enlargement process, WWF has an historic opportunity to help ensure that this impact is positive, safeguarding and enhancing the biodiversity of ecoregions and conservation of natural resources.

But the importance of EU Enlargement reaches beyond the borders of the accession countries themselves. It provides both a challenge and an opportunity to put the European Union as a whole on a more sustainable footing. For one, enlargement provides the greatest impetus to date for reform of the EU and its policies and programs. The Common Agricultural Policy, already the greatest burden to the EU budget, will bankrupt the Union unless it is significantly reformed. Democratization of the Union, including a greater role for the European Parliament, as well as more efficient administration and decision making are being pushed forward by the imminent arrival of new members. The urgency of integrating environmental concerns into all areas of EU policy is spurred by the specter of losing yet greater biodiversity in the new member states. Thus, enlargement presents a new opportunity for achieving WWF's aims, including reform of the CAP and Structural Funds and greater integration of environmental concerns.

The challenge of EU Enlargement will continue after the accession states formally join the European Union. The current expansion - the most ambitious to date - will significantly change the European Union as we know it. Within the European Council, for example, according to the agreements developed at Nice in December 2000, Poland will have almost as many votes as Germany or France, and more than twice the number of Austria. As a result, Poland and other new members will have a strong voice in setting EU policy. It is thus essential that WWF seize this opportunity to develop strong organizations and partners in the accession countries that are capable of advocating environmental protection and sustainable development, both for the new members as well as the new Europe.

In short, Enlargement is not just a matter concerning the accession states and the biodiversity contained within their borders, but the future of Europe as a whole. This larger context shapes both the program of the EU Accession Initiative as well as a general approach that emphasizes capacity building for WWF and partner organizations in the future member states.

Objectives

The overall goal for the Accession Initiative is to safeguard biodiversity in the priority G200 areas and to foster sustainable development in the expanded EU. Sustainable development here is used in its broadest meaning (as used for example in Agenda 21), including socio-economic, political as well as environmental aspects. This is an especially important point to make with regard to the post-Communist societies of Central and Eastern Europe, where civil society is still weak and governments unresponsive.

The above goal can be achieved through a strong WWF position on EU accession policy at the European level as well as presence, capacity building and activities in the region. The Initiative will set specific targets for three key issues of the EU enlargement process:

To establish a network of natural areas (Natura 2000 sites