The European Union (EU) Drinking Water Directive (DWD), adopted in 1998, has been key to delivering high-quality drinking water across Europe. Despite its success illustrated by the high level of compliance to the requirements of the DWD achieved by Member States (MS), the implementation of the...

In order to assess the significance of the presumed 'umbrella effect' of Natura 2000 areas the European Commission initiated a study, in 2013, to address the following questions: 1) Which are, amongst the species regularly occurring within the European territory of the EU 28 Member States, those...

While agriculture has historically shaped the rich biodiversity heritage of EU countries, over the last 60 years this synergistic relationship has been undermined. A 'polarisation' process has been operating, involving intensification and specialisation of agricultural production on land with...

These guidelines are primarily aimed at Natura 2000 site managers and policy makers. The purpose is to underline benefits from Natura 2000 sites in mitigating the impacts of climate change, reducing vulnerability and increasing resilience, and how adaptation of management for species and...

The purpose of this document is to guide the management of those areas in Natura 2000 where the objective of management is to preserve wilderness qualities and consequently the chosen management method is non-intervention or set aside and to present the current knowledge on the benefits of such...

This paper provides an overview of the key issues at stake for the eleventh meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD COP 11) in Hyderabad, India, 8-19 October 2012. The paper briefly introduces the CBD and its main accomplishments. It then describes...