Habitats Directive


The Habitats Directive is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The European Community was reformed as the European Union the following year, but the directive is still recognised.
The Habitats Directive required national governments to specify areas that are expected to be ensuring the conservation of flora and fauna species. This led to the setting up of a network of protected areas across the EU, along with 'Special Areas of Conservation', which together with the existing Special Protection Areas, became the so-called Natura 2000 network established to protect species and habitats.
This directive is one of the main pillars of the European Union's system of wildlife and nature conservation, another being the Birds Directive. The Habitats Directive, together with the Birds Directive, are also called the "nature directives".
The Habitats Directive consists of 24 articles of legislation to which all member states must comply. Article 17 of the directive sets the terms and standards for reporting on both the habitats and species listed in the annexes by the individual EU member countries. It stipulates a report from each member country on the state of nature every six years. The first preliminary reports were due in 2001, the first actual assessments were due in 2007, the second in 2013, and the third set of assessment reports were due in 2019. The assessments of conservation status differ markedly from those of the IUCN Red List. The aim in the case of the EU conservation status is to assess the distance from a defined favourable situation, as opposed to the distance from extinction. There are three classes of conservation status: favourable, unfavourable-inadequate and unfavourable-bad.
The annexes of the directive outline the protected habitats and species:
  • Annex I covers habitats,
  • Annex II species requiring designation of Special Areas of Conservation,
  • Annex IV species in need of strict protection, and
  • Annex V species in which member countries may decide for themselves how to manage the population.

    History

From 1988 to 1992, the policy was given importance at the national level by policy experts, scientists and ecologists; later on in the 1990s this spawned further political, social and administrative discussions among the relevant countries.
Due to differences in nature conservation traditions, national problems have arisen in the implementation of the directive. Since member states in the south and east of Europe participated less in nature policies, these states experienced problems with the EU provisions. In Germany, Austria, Italy and Belgium, the observation of conflicts between various government layers have caused prolonged delays in the management of nature policies. On the other hand, in member states such as the United Kingdom and Sweden, positive outcomes have developed due to stakeholder involvement, pro-active authorities, agencies responsible for implementation and public participation.
According to one 2014 report there are increasing incompatibilities with the Natura 2000 policy on economic development.

Annex I

Annex I lists the specific habitats which have been designated as the a Special Area of Conservation, to which a common EU-wide legislation applies. Certain habitats among those are furthermore designated as "priority habitat types". Habitats in the EU are given codes. An area or habitat can combine two habitats, and be designated as for example code 35.2 × 64.1 - Open grassland with Corynephorus and Agrostis, in combination with continental dunes. Example Annex I habitats are:
Open sea and tidal areas
  • Sea cliffs and shingle or stony beaches
  • Atlantic and continental salt marshes and salt meadows
  • Mediterranean and thermo-Atlantic salt marshes and salt meadows
  • Salt and gypsum continental steppes
Dunes
Standing and running freshwater
  • Sections of water courses with natural or semi-natural dynamics where the water quality shows no significant deterioration
Matorral
  • Mediterranean arborescent matorral
  • Thermo-Mediterranean and pre-steppe brush
  • Phrygana
Grasslands
  • Natural grasslands
  • Semi-natural dry grasslands and scrubland facies
  • Sclerophyllous grazed forests
  • Semi-natural tall-herb humid meadows
  • Mesophile grasslands
Bogs, mires and fens
  • Sphagnum acid bogs
  • Calcareous fens
Rocky areas and caves
  • Scree, chasmophytic vegetation on rocky slopes
  • Other rocky habitats
Forests - Only natural
  • Forests of temperate Europe
  • Mediterranean deciduous forests
  • Mediterranean sclerophyllous forests
  • Alpine and subalpine coniferous forests
  • Mediterranean mountainous coniferous forests
The full list of habitats is distributed over 9 main categories.

Annex II

Annex II lists species which determine if an area is a Special Area of Conservation. These include:

Animals

Mammals

  • Pyrenean desman
  • Bats: Rhinolophus blasii, R. euryale, R. ferrumequinum, R. hipposideros, R. mehelyi, Barbastella barbastellus, Miniopterus schreibersi, Myotis bechsteini, M. blythi, M. capaccinii, M. dasycneme, M. emarginatus, M. myotis
  • Rodents: Spermophilus citellus, Castor fiber, Microtus cabrerae
  • Carnivores: Lynx, otter and Mustela lutreola
  • Grey seal and harbour seal
  • natural populations of wild goats
  • natural populations of wild sheep on Corsica and Sardinia.
  • Rupicapra rupicapra balcanica
  • the dolphin Tursiops truncatus and the harbour porpoise ''Phocoena phocoena''

    Reptiles and amphibians

  • Land tortoises: Testudo hermanni, T. graeca and T. marginata
  • Freshwater turtles: Emys orbicularis, Mauremys caspica and M. leprosa
  • Lizards: Lacerta monticola, L. schreiberi, Gallotia galloti insulanagae, Podarcis lilfordi, P. pityusensis, Chalcides occidentalis and Phyllodactylus europaeus
  • Snakes: Elaphe quatuorlineata, E. situla and Vipera ursinii
  • Salamanders: Chioglossa lusitanica, Mertensiella luschani, Salamandrina terdigitata, Triturus cristatus, olm, Speleomantes ambrosii, S. flavus, S. genei, S. imperialis and S. supramontes
  • Toads: Bombina bombina and B. variegata
  • Frogs: Rana latastei, Discoglossus jeanneae, D. montalentii and ''D. sardus''

    Fish

  • All Eudontomyzon species, Lampetra fluviatilis, L. planeri, Lethenteron zanandrai, Petromyzon marinus
  • Aphanius iberus and A. fasciatus
  • only natural populations of Hucho hucho
  • only freshwater populations of salmon, the trout S. marmoradus and S. macrostigma
  • the cyprid fish Alburnus vulturius, A. albidus, Anaecypris hispanica, Aspius aspius, Barbus plebejus, B. meridionalis, B. capito, B. comiza, Chalcalburnus chalcoides, Chondrostoma soetta, Ch. polylepis, Ch. genei, Ch. lusitanicum, Ch. toxostoma, Gobio albipinnatus, G. uranoscopus, Iberocypris palaciosi, Leuciscus lucomonis, L. souffia, all species of Phoxinellus, Rutilus pigus, R. rubilio, R. arcasii, R. macrolepidotus, R. lemmingii, R. friesii meidingeri, R. alburnoides, Rhodeus sericeus amarus, Scardinius graecus
  • the Cobitidae loaches Cobitis conspersa, C. larvata, C. trichonica, C. taenia, Misgurnis fossilis, Sabanejewia aurata
  • of the perches: Gymnocephalus schraetzer and all Zingel species except Z. asper and Z. zingel
  • Gobiidae: Pomatoschistus canestrini, Padogobius panizzai, P. nigricans
  • the freshwater sculpins Cottus ferruginosus, C. gobio, C. petiti
  • all Alosa species, the river herrings or scads.
  • Aristotle's catfish

    Crustaceans

  • the freshwater crayfish ''Austropotamobius pallipes''

    Insects

  • the beetles Buprestis splendens, Cerambyx cerdo, Cucujus cinnaberinus, Dytiscus latissimus, Graphoderus bilineatus, Limoniscus violaceus, Lucanus cervus and Morimus funereus
  • the butterflies Coenonympha oedippus, Erebia calcaria, E. christi, Eriogaster catax, Euphydryas aurinia, Graellsia isabellae, Hypodryas maturna, Lycaena dispar, Maculinea nausithous, M. teleius, Melanagria arge, Papilio hospiton, Plebicula golgus
  • the praying mantis Apteromantis aptera
  • the dragonflies Coenagrion hylas, C. mercuriale, Cordulegaster trinacriae, Gomphus graslinii, Leucorrhina pectoralis, Lindenia tetraphylla, Macromia splendens, Ophiogomphus cecilia, Oxygastra curtisii
  • the grasshopper ''Baetica ustulata''

    Molluscs

  • Gastropods : Caseolus calculus, C. commixta, C. sphaerula, Discula leacockiana, D. tabellata, Discus defloratus, D. guerinianus, Elona quimperiana, Geomalacus maculosus, Geomitra moniziana, Idiomela subplicata, Leiostyla abbreviata, L. cassida, L. corneocostata, L. gibba, L. lamellosa, Vertigo angustior, V. genesii, V. geyeri, V. moulinsiana
  • Bivalves: Margaritifera margaritifera and ''Unio crassus''