Progress in Implementing European Species Action Plans
In 1993 BirdLife International was asked by the European Commission to develop action plans for the 23 Globally Threatened Birds in Europe. After an extensive consultation process, the 23 plans were published in 1996. They were approved by national representatives of each EU member state, and endorsed by the Bern and Bonn Conventions.
The plans recommended numerous country-specific actions. Now, six years later, the BirdLife European Partnership has analyzed progress at the national level in implementing the 5,341 actions that were considered 'essential' or of 'high priority' for the 23 species.
Perhaps surprisingly, less than half of the actions are underway or have been completed. Little or no work had been done, according to the judgement of the BirdLife Partnership, on 2,775 of the 5,341 actions. Here are some of the main conclusions:
Actions for policy and legislation
- Agriculture – moderate progress
- Forestry – rather limited progress, but remarkable success in some countries
- Coastal strategies – initiatives still too sporadic
- Fishery policies – over-fishing still prevalent
- Impact Assessment – specific needs of many species still not taken into account
Actions for species and habitat protection
- Fairly good legal basis for protection of species achieved
- Enforcement of laws still too weak in a minority of countries
- Targets for site-based habitat protection well defined (1,165 Important Bird Areas (IBAs) in Europe)
- 22 of the 23 species have more than 50% of their IBAs at least partially legally protected
- Not all species can be protected via IBAs – some are too dispersed across the landscape
Actions for research and monitoring
- Significant advances in basic knowledge (range, population) made for a minority of species
Actions for public awareness
- Many such activities carried out by the Partnership
- Effectiveness of actions often not measured
- Clear need to target very specific groups (land-owners, fishermen, local communities etc.)