European Commission > Environment > Nature & Biodiversity > Nature and Biodiversity Law

Two main pieces of legislation:

Birds Directive (1979 - Directive on the conservation of wild birds)

Habitats Directive (1992 Directive on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora)

New pieces:

Zoos Directive

Wildlife Trade Legislation

Invasive Alien Species Regulation

Fitness Check of the EU Nature Directives (Feb 2014-Spring2016)

"The Habitats and Birds Directives are being assessed to ensure they are 'fit for purpose', as part of a Commission-wide exercise. Find out more about the current fitness check of the nature law. "

Excerpt from 2nd Infographics source:

Understanding the Fitness Check Nature Legislation in the EU 

MAIN INPUTS INTO THE PROCESS:

• Stakeholder consultation
• Public consultation
• A review of scientific literature and published reports, including:
  • The State of Nature in the EU
  • The mid-term review of EU biodiversity strategy to 2020

State of Nature: Largest ever assessment draws a mixed picture for Europe's habitats and species: http://europa.eu/!uD79fY  @KarmenuVella

12:27 PM - 20 May 2015

Karmenu Vella ‏@KarmenuVella  Feb 2

My remarks at y'day evening's @Europarl_EN biodiversity debate https://ec.europa.eu/commission/2014-2019/vella/announcements/opening-remarks-adoption-european-parliament-resolution-mid-term-review-eu-biodiversity-strategy_en … #naturealert #Naturefit4all

Excerpt:

"The ongoing fitness check of the EU nature legislation provoked the highest ever number of responses to a Commission public consultation, demonstrating the level of importance of nature and biodiversity to European citizens. It has also generated a huge amount of evidence."

European Commission > Environment > Nature & Biodiversity > Natura 2000

Natura 2000: A network of protected areas

(Excerpt: "In a nutshell")

"Stretching over 18 % of the EU’s land area and almost 6 % of its marine territory, it is the largest coordinated network of protected areas in the world. It offers a haven to Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats."

"You can access the Member States' Natura 2000 webpages below. (link towards the inferior part of the page)"

"For each Natura 2000 site, national authorities have submitted a standard data form (SDF) that contains an extensive description of the site and its ecology."

"The European Topic Centre for Biological Diversity (ETC/BD), based in Paris, is responsible for validating this data and creating an EU wide descriptive database."

http://bd.eionet.europa.eu/Consortium

• A leading organisation: Muséum National d'Histoire Naturelle (MNHN), Paris, France,
• A coordinating team based in the National Museum of Natural History, Paris,
• A multidisciplinary expert consortium of specialized institutions from different European countries.
• Under contract to the European Environment Agency with support of the Ministère de l'Écologie, du Développement durable et de l'Énergie
  (French Ministry of Ecology, Sustainable Development and Energy) and contributions from partner organizations.