EU Nature Protection Legislation – Focus on Species Protection

LIFE priority birds
The LIFE fund has so far been the main tool used by the Commission to stimulate the implementation of priority conservation measures for the threatened species and habitats in the EU. For example during 1992–2003 LIFE-Nature invested some €367 million in projects targeting threatened bird species. Figures are not yet final for the current LIFE+ period, but estimates were made for a subset of threatened birds during their action plan reviews. Once the species in need of action were identified and the necessary conservation actions clear, LIFE was the element of the bird conservation strategy in the EU that helped with the development, testing and implementation of conservation actions on the ground. To direct the project applicants to the need to implement action plans, LIFE offered increased (up to 75%) co-financing to projects aimed at priority species. Each year LIFE has supported on average 30–40 projects targeting birds, among which at least five are exclusively for priority species. In relation to threatened birds in particular, the contribution of LIFE has been very successful. This is confirmed by the fact that eight out of the best 23 LIFE projects in 2009 were projects targeting the conservation of threatened birds. Furthermore, thanks to LIFE it was possible to bring several bird species back from near-extinction.

The 500 wild bird species naturally occurring in the European Union are protected in various ways:

• Annex 1: 194 species and sub-species are particularly threatened. Member States must designate Special Protection Areas (SPAs) for their survival and for all migratory bird species.
• Annex 2: 82 bird species can be hunted. However, the hunting periods are limited and hunting is forbidden when birds are at their most vulnerable: during their return migration to nesting areas, reproduction and the raising of their chicks.
• Annex 3: overall, activities that directly threaten birds, such as their deliberate killing, capture or trade, or the destruction of their nests, are banned. With certain restrictions, Member States can allow some of these activities for 26 species listed here.
• Annex 4: the Directive provides for the sustainable management of hunting, but Member States must outlaw all forms of non-selective and large-scale killing of birds, especially the methods listed in this annex.
• Annex 5: the Directive promotes research to underpin the protection, management and use of all species of birds covered by the Directive, which are listed in this annex.