Proposal for a revised list of species included in Resolution 6 (1998) of the Bern Convention to be consistent with Annex I of the Birds Directive and Annex II of the Habitats Directive - ETC/BD Working paper N°C/2011

01 Nov 2011

Iulian Petchesi


As part of the streamlining between the Bern Convention and the Nature Directives, a specific need is to ensure the consistency and complementarity between the implementation of the Emerald network in application of Resolution 3 (1996) and Resolution No 5 (1998) of the Bern Convention with the Natura 2000 network. One of the basic aims is that the Emerald approach should help EU candidate countries to prepare for the Natura 2000 process. It is thus crucial that the list of species (Resolution N°6) underpinning the designation of Emerald sites is as consistent as possible with the list of species for which EU Member States have to designate Special Protection Areas (SPAs) under Annex I of the Birds Directive and propose Sites of Community Interest (SCIs) for further designation as Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) under Annex II of the Habitat Directive, as part of the Natura 2000 network.
Due to the successive enlargements of the European Union (1995, 2004 and 2007), the list of species for which Member States have to designate Natura 2000 sites has grown over time to take into account the new ecological context and characteristics of the new countries. In order to reflect this evolution in Resolution 6 of the Bern Convention some work was needed from ETC/BD. The present document aims at highlighting the changes needed in Resolution 6 of the Bern Convention, to be consistent with the relevant annexes of the Birds and the Habitats Directives.

Prepared by: Jérôme Bailly Maitre, Dominique Richard, Sophie Condé and Douglas Evans (from ETC/BD-MNHN, FR), Marc Roekaerts (from Eureko, BE)