State of nature in the EU : results from reporting under the nature directives 2007-2012

This report describing the state of nature in the EU is based on reports from Member States under the Birds (2009/147/EC) and the Habitats (92/43/EEC) directives and on subsequent assessments at EU or EU biogeographical levels. This is the first time that the Member States' reports required by the Birds Directive have included information on population sizes and trends of birds; it is the second report under the Habitats Directive to provide information on the conservation status of habitats and species listed in the annexes to the directive. Although the bird reports cover all species of naturally occurring wild birds in the EU, reports under the Habitats Directive only cover a selection of habitats and species that were considered rare and/or endangered; therefore, it should not be surprising that the proportion of species with an unfavourable conservation status is higher for the Habitats Directive than for the Birds Directive. In addition to an overview on species and habitats status, both at national and EU levels, this report analyses the situation per main ecosystem type. It also addresses the status of the Natura 2000 network and its possible contribution to the status of species and habitats. Finally, the report provides results on progress towards Targets 1 and 3 of the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy. Therefore, this report provides, for the first time, comprehensive facts and figures on the status and trends of the species and habitats covered by the two EU nature directives, fully underpinned by the numerous reports submitted by Member States in 2013. However, there are still deficiencies in the quality and completeness of the data reported by Member States; these were communicated to Member States who, subsequently, submitted improved reports. In addition, further streamlining and harmonisation are needed at EU level to reduce differences in methodologies used by Member States that difficult aggregation and interpretation of data at the EU level. The quality of the data reported (often based on simple expert judgement) also indicates that Member States need to further develop or complement their inventories and monitoring schemes.