Briefing

Management effectiveness in the EU's Natura 2000 network of protected areas

Briefing Published 06 Oct 2020 Last modified 10 Feb 2023

12 min read

Photo: © Sergio Cerrato on Pixabay

The strategic plan of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) for the period 2011-2020 is coming to an end. During this time, the EU has been delivering on the CBD via its own biodiversity strategy. In preparation of a new global strategic framework, the management effectiveness of European protected areas needs to be improved. The new EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 commits to ‘Effectively manage all protected areas, defining clear conservation objectives and measures, and monitoring them appropriately’ by 2030 (EC, 2020). This briefing shows that to improve management effectiveness, complete implementation on the EU Birds and Habitats Directives is essential. It also brings together results from a study into options for reporting, collating and assessing protected area management effectiveness with a view to informing the new global strategic framework.