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Protected areas in Europe - an overview

Publication Created 12 Oct 2012 Published 12 Oct 2012
1 min read
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Protected areas today cover a relatively large part of Europe, with almost 21 % of the territory of EEA member countries and collaborating countries consisting of protected areas. In spite of this widespread presence of protected areas in all European countries, the topic has not received as much attention on a pan-European level as other environmental issues. We hope this report from the EEA „ the first we have compiled on the subject „ will go some way to redressing the balance. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of protected areas and aims to assist policymakers and the wider public in understanding the complexity of the current systems of protected areas.
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Publication Created 12 Oct 2012 Published 12 Oct 2012
1 min read
EEA Report No 5/2012
Protected areas today cover a relatively large part of Europe, with almost 21 % of the territory of EEA member countries and collaborating countries consisting of protected areas. In spite of this widespread presence of protected areas in all European countries, the topic has not received as much attention on a pan-European level as other environmental issues. We hope this report from the EEA „ the first we have compiled on the subject „ will go some way to redressing the balance. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of protected areas and aims to assist policymakers and the wider public in understanding the complexity of the current systems of protected areas.

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: ISBN 978-92-9213-329-0
: TH-AL-12-005-EN-C

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Figures used

Proportion of each terrestrial biogeographical region covered by SCIs/SACs * * SCIs — Sites of Community Importance; SACs — Special Areas of Conservation
Cumulative number and area of nationally designated sites (under all IUCN management categories) in Hungary over time -
Spatial overlap between Natura 2000 and nationally designated sites in Hungary, all IUCN categories The map reflects the spatial combination of sites designated under national instruments and Natura 2000 sites. In Hungary there is an important overlap between Natura 2000 sites and nationally designated sites, however Natura 2000 also extend beyond these (little light green on the map). There are also a large proportion of nationally designated sites under IUCN V and VI which are not designated as Natura 2000 as reflected by extend of blue colour on the map
Proportion of terrestrial land covered by Natura 2000 -
Spatial overlap between Natura 2000 and nationally designated sites in Estonia (only terrestrial part), all IUCN categories considered -
Dominant landscape types in Europe based on Corine Land Cover (CLC) 2000 -
Average size of terrestrial nationally designated areas (in km2) in different regions of the world * EEA-39 includes the 32 EEA member countries and seven collaborating countries (http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-andmaps/ figures/political-map-of-eea-member-and-collaborating-countries).
Share of HNV farmland per utilised agricultural area (UAA) -
Distribution of nationally protected sites (CDDA) in Europe according to their IUCN category classification Distribution of nationally protected sites (CDDA) in Europe according to their IUCN category classification
European marine regions and the coverage of Natura 2000 sites Disclaimer: The marine regions and sub‑regions shown in Map 7.1 and used for generating the statistics in Table 7.1 are identical to MSFD marine regions used for WG DIKE (Working Group on Data, Information and Knowledge Exchange) consultation of EU Member States on the 7 November 2011. A final decision regarding the map was not reached before the publication of this report and changes might occur. The map does not represent any official Member State marine boundaries.
Cumulative number and area of nationally designated sites (under all IUCN management categories) in Austria over time -
Progress in the proposal and designation of marine Sites of Community Interest (SCI) in Europe (left), and number of offshore SCIs (right) -
Special Protection Areas classified for the crane (Grus grus) across EU The map shows the distribution of Natura 2000 sites designated across the EU for the Crane under the Birds Directive, highlighting the importance for a European network of protected areas to take into consideration the various needs of a migratory species for its life cycle, specifically for breeding, staging and wintering.
Spatial connectivity of Natura 2000 sites across political boundaries in different parts of the European Union The map reflects the likely degree of spatial connectivity of Natura 2000 sites across 34 terrestrial political borders of the EU, measured as a quantified proportion of Natura 2000 sites on both sides of a boundary against total border length. A thick line reflects a likely poor spatial connectivity while a thin line reflects a likely good spatial connectivity.
Degree of overlap between terrestrial Natura 2000 network and nationally designated sites (CDDA) including all IUCN protected areas categories The map reflects the spatial combination of sites designated under national instruments and Natura 2000 sites. A large part of Natura 2000 overlap with existing national designations but also extend beyond these national designations. There are also nationally designated sites which are not designated as Natura 2000
Loss of accessibility for migratory fish due to dams in major European river basins Orange: river basins with large dams (at least 10 m high) not allowing normal fish passage.
Cumulative number and area of nationally designated sites (under all IUCN management categories) in Estonia over time This diagram shows the evolution over time of the number and cumulative surface area of nationally designated areas in Estonia.
Boundaries of the Marine Natural Park of the Irose Sea -
Archived
Large protected areas in the Alps and the Carpathians -
Functional connectivity of Natura 2000 sites across political boundaries in EU, 2009 -
Spatial overlap between Natura 2000 and nationally designated sites in Austria under IUCN categories I to IV -
Spatial overlap between Natura 2000 and nationally designated sites in Austria under all IUCN categories The map reflects the spatial combination of sites designated under national instruments and Natura 2000 sites. In Austria there is an important overlap between Natura 2000 sites and nationally designated sites, however Natura 2000 also extend beyond these (little light green on the map). There are also a large proportion of nationally designated sites under IUCN V and VI which are not designated as Natura 2000 as reflected by extend of blue colour on the map
Proportion of coastal waters (0 to 1 nm from the coast) of the Greater North Sea including Kattegat and the English Channel covered by Natura 2000 sites -
Overview of protected areas as recorded in the World Database on Protected Areas -
Share of terrestrial protected areas in mountainous, coastal and lowland inland area per country Coastal areas defined as within 0–15 km, Mountain regions as defined by the European Environment Agency (2010). In several countries, part of the coastal areas are also mountainous. Countries are ordered according to the percentage of each country covered by mountains.
Publications on Natura 2000 per year — based on a search in Web of Knowledge for topic 'Natura 2000' (9/01/2011) -
The Natura 2000 and the Emerald networks -
Cumulative proportion of Areas of Special Scientific Interest (Northern Ireland) and Sites of Special Scientific Interest (England, Wales and Scotland) in 'favourable' or 'unfavourable recovering' condition -
Archived
Share of terrestrial area designated in EU Member States under Natura 2000 and national designations -
Share of terrestrial area designated at national level under various IUCN categories overlapping with Natura 2000 -
Cumulative number and area of nationally designated sites (under all IUCN management categories) in France over time -
Spatial overlap between Natura 2000 and nationally designated sites in France (only terrestrial part) under IUCN categories I to IV -
Spatial overlap between Natura 2000 and nationally designated sites in France (only terrestrial part) under all IUCN categories The map reflects the spatial combination of sites designated under national instruments and Natura 2000 sites. In France Natura 2000 extends significantly beyond existing national designations, as shown by the extend of light green on the map. As compared to the map showing the overlap with only IUCN categories I to IV, its is obvious that, particularly in th South-eastern part of France, several Natura 2000 sites overlap with nationally designated sites under categories V and VI. There are also a large part of nationally designated sites under IUCN V and VI which are not designated as Natura 2000 as reflected by the blue dots on the map.
Overlap between wilderness areas and protected areas under IUCN categories I and II In terms of overall number, Estonia, Norway, Slovakia and Sweden have the most protected areas classified as Category Ia and Ib, and Category II. Albania, Bulgaria, Estonia and Slovenia have the highest number of protected areas under Category III, but not all countries classify protected areas under this category. The United Kingdom is the only country within the 39 EEA member and collaborating countries that has no protected areas in categories I, II or III. No data available for Ireland.
Archived
Distribution of Natura 2000 sites across EU-27, 2011 -
Percentage of marine waters covered by Natura 2000 -
Cumulative surface area of sites designated under the Habitats (SCIs) and classified under the Birds (SPAs) Directives -
Cumulative surface of SCIs designated by biogeographical region -
Map of the Estonian green network -
Spatial overlap between Natura 2000 and nationally designated sites in Hungary, IUCN categories I to IV -
Ten most frequently reported pressures by Member States for marine species according to 2001–2006 Article 17 reports under the Habitats Directive This diagram shows the number of marine species affected by pressures reported by 40% of EU countries where these species occur.
Proportion of the surface area of nationally designated sites per type of ecosystem These broad ecosystem‑types represent different ways of clustering CLC units, so there are overlaps between them. For instance, 'grasslands' and part of 'heaths and scrubs' are included in 'agro-ecosystems'. Similarly, 'lakes and rivers' are included in 'wetlands'. This is why the sum of the ecosystems is over 100 %.
Changes in broad ecosystem‑types between 2000 and 2006 inside and outside nationally designated areas This diagramme shows the change in area covered by broad ecosystem-types between 2000 and 2009 inside and outside nationally designated areas. The way how “broad ecosystem-types” are defined is described in the EU 2010 Biodiversity Baseline (http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/eu-2010-biodiversity-baseline).
Conservation status of species of European Union interest in marine ecosystems Statistics by region on the left, overall statistics on the right.
Conservation status of habitat types of European Union interest in marine ecosystems Statistics by region on the left, overall statistics on the right.
Conservation status of species Conservation status of species in EU except Bulgaria and Romania
Conservation status of habitats Conservation status of habitats of Community interest.
Landscape fragmentation in NUTS-X regions in 2009 Map shows the level of fragmentation for FG-B2 in the 581 NUTS-X regions investigated
Archived
Land cover change between 1990 and 2006 — area change for major habitat classes How to read the graph: from 1990 to 2006, artificial areas (housing and industrial areas and infrastructure) increased by nearly 8 %, whereas wetlands decreased by nearly 3 %.
Wilderness Quality Index Wilderness Quality Index maps.
Archived
Key past and projected impacts and effects of climate change for the main biogeographical regions of Europe -
Exceedances of critical loads for eutrophication due to the deposition of nutrient nitrogen in 2000 and 2010 The maps shows the exceedances of critical loads for eutrophication due to the deposition of nutrient N in the 2000 and 2010
Conservation status of assessed habitats in EU‑25 - Annex I to the Habitats Directive includes a wide variety of habitats which are divided into nine groups of related habitat types such as forests and grassland. - Between these groups, dune habitats, grasslands and bogs, mires and fens have the worst conservation status.
Status of fish stocks in the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) and General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean (GFCM) fishing regions of Europe The chart shows the proportion of assessed stocks that are overfished (red) and stocks within safe biological limits (blue). The numbers in the circles indicate the number of stocks assessed within the given region. The size of the circles is proportional to the magnitude of the regional catch.
Conservation status of assessed species in EU-25, by taxonomic group -

News and articles

Protected areas cover a quarter of Europe's land and almost 6 % of regional seas Protected areas cover more than 1 000 000 km2 of land and more than 340 000 km2 of coastal and marine ecosystems in Europe, according to the latest data. These areas are vitally important for protecting the continent’s most vulnerable species, habitats and marine life.
Is there a protected area near you? Find out on UN Biodiversity Day Protected areas cover more than one fifth of the land in the 39 countries working with the European Environment Agency (EEA). On International Biodiversity Day, the EEA encourages Europeans to find out more about their closest nature reserve or national park using a new interactive map.
Protected areas have increased to cover one fifth of Europe’s land More than 21 % of the land has some kind of protected status in the 39 countries which work with the European Environment Agency (EEA). However, only 4 % of the sea controlled by countries of the European Union is included within the Natura 2000 network of protected areas, according to a new report from the EEA.

Related briefings

See also

Archived
An introduction to Europe’s Protected Areas A protected area is a clearly defined geographical space that is recognised as and dedicated to achieving the long-term conservation of nature — with its associated ecosystem services and cultural values — and is managed, through legal or other effective means, to do so. This is the essence of the definition provided by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Archived
An overview of Europe's protected areas The European Environment Agency is compiling data about protected areas in Europe via the data flows on Natura 2000 and Nationally designated areas, reported by the countries. The material and analyses presented on these pages are based on the EEA report "Protected areas in Europe - an overview" from 2012.
Archived
Protected areas
Draft
Publications on Natura 2000 per year — based on a search in Web of Knowledge for topic 'Natura 2000' (9/01/2011) - eps file
Draft
Publications on Natura 2000 per year — based on a search in Web of Knowledge for topic 'Natura 2000' (9/01/2011) - Excel file
Draft
Figure 5.1 Protected areas.eps.75dpi.gif
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Figure 5.1 Protected areas.eps.zoom.png
Draft
Figure 5.1 Protected areas.eps.75dpi.tif
Draft
Figure 5.1 Protected areas.eps.75dpi.png

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For references, please go to https://eea.europa.eu./publications/protected-areas-in-europe-2012 or scan the QR code.

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