The Habitats Directive is a European Union directive adopted in 1992 as an EU response to the Berne Convention. It is one of the European Union's directives in relation to wildlife and nature conservation, another being the Birds Directive. The Habitats Directive, together with the Birds Directive, are also called the "nature directives". The Habitats Directive requires national governments to specify areas that are expected to be ensuring the conservation of flora and fauna species. This led to the setting up of a network of protected areas across the EU, special areas of conservation which together with the existing Special Protection Areas, became the so-called Natura 2000 network established to protect species and habitats. The annexes of the directive outline the protected habitats and species:
Article 17 of the directive requires EU Member States to report on the state of their protected areas every six years. The first complete set of country data was reported in 2007.
History
From 1988 to 1992, the policy was given importance at the national level by policy experts, scientists and ecologists; later on in the 1990s this spawned further political, social and administrative discussions among the relevant countries.
Implications
Due to differences in nature conservation traditions, national problems have arisen in the implementation of the directive. Since member states in the south and east of Europe participated less in nature policies, these states experienced problems with the EU provisions. In Germany, Austria, Italy and Belgium, the observation of conflicts between various government layers have caused prolonged delays in the management of nature policies. On the other hand, in member states such as the United Kingdom and Sweden, positive outcomes have developed due to stakeholder involvement, pro-active authorities, agencies responsible for implementation and public participation. According to van der Zouwen and van den Top in 2002 the Habitats Directive causes long and elaborate discussions regarding the merits of "economy" and "ecology". As of 2014 there are increasing incompatibilities with the Natura 2000 policy on economic development.
