This report, from the Directorate General Environment’s of the European Commission and prepared by Comunità Ambiente, examines the contribution that the LIFE-Nature project financed from 1992 to 2004 have made to the integrated management of Natura 2000 sites. 

854 LIFE Nature projects have been analysed. About a half of these foresaw the realisation of Natura 2000 sites management plans, action/management plans of species listed in the Birds and Habitats directives or data collection and other activities linked to the preparation of such plans.

The main sectors are: fauna (121 projects, of which 58 directed at birds), freshwater habitats (75 projects), forests (59 projects), followed by coastal habitats and semi-natural grasslands.

The high number of projects underlines the research, from the Natura 2000 sites managers, of criteria and methods to be used for an integrated management of the network. It is to be noted that in six Member States of the European Union (Denmark, Estonia, France, Holland, Slovak Republic and Sweden) the management plan are mandatory, while in other five (Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Germany and Hungary) they are obligatory only in particular cases. Three Countries, Italy, France and Slovenia, used the LIFE Nature instrument to realise specific guidelines for the preparation of the Natura 2000 sites management plans.

In addition to biodiversity conservation, the main issues of these last years concern the involvement of farmers/breeders in nature conservation, the relationship between the indications from the Habitats and Water directives and the implementation of a coastal management strategy in line with the Recommendation of the European Parliament on the Integrated Management of the Coastal Zones.

How to conserve the “traditional” agriculture? Is it efficient to manage the Natura 2000 sites and the river basin district through a single office? How to integrate coastal management into other sectoral policies? To these and other questions the European LIFE Nature beneficiary tried to answer.

The document is published in English, in electronic and printed format. Printed versions are available from the Luxembourg Office for Official Publications of the European Communities: ISBN 92-79-00388-7; ISSN 1725-5619.