Brussels, 31/03/2008 (Agence Europe) - Natura 2000, the pan-European network of protected natural areas, is gaining ground, to the great advantage of wild fauna and flora and different habitats. The recent creation of 489 new sites, selected by member states under the Habitats directive (92/43/ECC) to integrate Natura 2000 “Sites of Community Importance". It has added a further 18,784 kilometres square in surface area to this network, which currently covers 20% of the European continent and 10,000 km2 of its seas.
The most recent extensions made in January and March, involved the zones in the bio-geographic alpine, Mediterranean and Micaronesian (Azores and Canary islands) designated by ten member states.
“Natura 2000 is the most potent weapon Europe has in the fight against biodiversity loss," said Stavros Dimas, European Commissioner for the Environment. He was pleased that the extension of the network is expanding and added, “This means that we are gaining ground in our efforts to halt biodiversity loss in Europe by 2010. Biodiversity conservation is our life insurance for the future."
Austria: three new mountain sites in Austria include an extension of the Fliesser Sonnenhänge, the largest network of dry meadows in the Tyrol, home to the silver-washed fritillary butterfly Argynnis paphia; Cyprus: has added 36 sites, including the Larnaka salt lakes, where large numbers of flamingos; Finland has added 5 small sites, including Mieraslompolon kenttä, an important habitat for the woodland ringlet butterfly Erebia medusa; France has added 32 new sites, including the Grotte de la source du Jaur, a cave system home to large numbers of Schreibers' long-fingered bats Miniopterus schreibersi, which are increasingly threatened; Malta has added 27 sites including Rdumijiet ta Malta, 23km2 of coastal cliffs that are home to seabirds such as the Yelkouan shearwater Puffinus yelkouan; Poland has added 18 sites, among them the Góry Slonne mountains home to lynx (Lynx lynx) and the wolf, Canis lupus; Slovakia has added a wealth of sites including the traditional farming area of Mala Fatra in the Carpathians, which includes bears and wolves; Slovenia has added almost 750km2 to the network in the Julian Alps, where the brown bear lives; Spain has added three sites in the Canary Islands, including the Sebadales de Güigüí seagrass meadows; Sweden: ten small zones.
European Commission designation confirms their official status and the obligation on member states to protect them. Once the designation has been made, member states have six years to implement the necessary measures for managing them.
Natura 2000 brings together sites of Community importance covered by the Habitats directive, as well as Special Protection Zones (SPZ) covered under the Wild Birds Directive (79/409/ECC of 1979. (A.N.)