Informe El medio ambiente en Europa: Estado y perspectivas 2020

PART 2
FIGURE 3.1 Area of Natura 2000 sites designated under the EU Habitats and Birds Directives in 2017
Area in km 2
1 400 000
1 200 000
1 000 000
800 000
600 000
400 000
200 000
0
1993
1994
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
2000
2001
2002
2003
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2017
Natura 2000 SCI SPA
Note:
Source:
The Natura 2000 network is composed of SPAs and SCIs. SPAs are Special Protection Areas, designated under the Birds Directive.
SCIs include sites and proposed Sites of Community Importance and Special Areas of Conservation, designated under the Habitats
Directive. Many sites are designated under both directives (as both an SCI and an SPA). The calculation of the Natura 2000 area taking
this overlap into account is available only from 2011 onwards.
EEA (2018c).
of the European Commission (JRC) has
created an indicator of protected area
connectivity (ProtConn) (JRC, 2019b)
that quantifies how well networks of
protected areas are designed to support
connectivity and is based on assumed
species distances between protected
areas (Saura et al., 2018). In the EU, the
indicator shows an average value of
more than 18 % and therefore meets the
connectivity element of Aichi biodiversity
target 11. The ProtConn value varies,
however, throughout Europe: it is
lowest in the Netherlands (6.7 %), varies
between 8 and 12 % in Finland, Ireland,
Italy, Sweden and the Baltic States and
is highest in Bulgaria, Croatia, Czechia,
Germany, Poland and Slovenia (25 %
or more) (Saura et al., 2018).
The Natura 2000 network
covers 18 % of the EU’s land
area, with around 28 000 sites.
The Emerald network is an ecological
network of areas of special conservation
interest set up by the Contracting Parties
to the Bern Convention. It is conceptually
similar to Natura 2000, but it incorporates
a wider group of countries. As the EU is
a signatory to the Bern Convention, the
Natura 2000 network is considered the
EU Member States’ contribution to the
Emerald network. Outside the EU, the
Emerald network is still in the early stages,
and since December 2017 two European
countries have officially adopted Emerald
sites on their territories: Norway and
Switzerland.
At the end of 2017, 14 Member States
had designated more than 17 % of their
land area as Natura 2000 sites: Bulgaria,
Croatia, Cyprus, Estonia, Greece, Hungary,
Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Portugal,
Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain
(EEA, 2018c). The degree of overlap
between Natura 2000 and national
designations illustrates the extent to
which countries have made use of their
nationally designated areas to underpin
Natura 2000 and to what extent Natura
2000 sites extend beyond national
systems (EEA, 2018b) (Figure 3.2).
78 SOER 2020/Biodiversity and nature