2005 - Communicating the Pan-European Ecological Network - ECNC

2 Ecological networks and support for PEEN inpolicy making in Europe2.1 The European levelPolicy frameworkAlthough there is no international legislative framework which is aimed exclusively at the creation of aEurope wide ecological network, consisting of core areas, corridors, stepping stones and buffer zones, anumber of international legislative instruments can be seen as directly or indirectly supporting this process.From a legal point of view the Natura 2000 network has the strongest basis for the creation of aEuropean ecological network as it is based upon the EU Habitat and Birds Directives, and therefore is‘hard law’. However, the Natura 2000 network is limited to EU countries and does not involve non-MemberStates. Furthermore, the concept of corridors is not fully integrated into Natura 2000, although the issueof connectivity between sites (i.e. linking the core sites to each other) is included in the Habitat Directive.Whilst the Natura 2000 Network can be seen as a driver for enabling the establishment of a European ecologicalnetwork, especially with regards to the identification and protection of core areas, its restrictedgeographical scope and limited attention to corridors will not on its own suffice to create a European ecologicalnetwork. The Emerald network (based on the Council of Europe’s Bern Convention) has a widergeographical scope and includes the concept of corridors, but this Convention is described by the Councilof Europe itself as ‘soft legislation’ and non-compliance has less consequences than failing to meet therequirements of the EU Directives.At the level of international policy frameworks, the ambition to establish an ecological network for Europeis much more firmly anchored, than in international law. In 1995 the European environment ministersendorsed the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy and its Action Theme to establisha Pan-European Ecological Network. This goal was reinforced at the Kyiv ministerial conference in2003, which produced a PEEN action plan. The Pan-European Ecological Network has, technically speaking,the broadest scope because it covers not only network elements such as core areas, but also networkelements such as corridors and buffer zones, which are lacking in almost all other international conventions.However the potential weakness of these policy instruments lies in their implementation, as thisis entirely dependent on voluntary national support and there are no sanctions for non-compliance.9