Recognising the importance of safeguarding biodiversity, in June 2002 the European Council of Göteborg set a target of halting its decline by 2010. Fulfilling this target has been adopted as one of the key aims of the 6th Community Action Plan for the Environment. The candidate countries have,...

The Commission wishes to provide further advice and support to Member States on how best to access and use EU funding mechanism for financing the management of the Natura 2000 network. The next phase in our awareness raising strategy is to link the use of the Guidance Handbook on financing...

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...

Over the past decade, numerous studies have shown the multiple benefits of protected areas, such as the Natura 2000 network, and green infrastructure to the economy and to human well-being. Examples include carbon storage benefits, water supply and purification, flood management, soil retention,...