The biogeographic regions of Europe are biogeographic regions defined by the European Environment Agency. They were initially limited to the European Union member states, but later extended to cover all of Europe west of the Urals, including all of Turkey. The map of biogeographic regions is deliberately simplified and ignores local anomalies. It is intended primarily as a framework for coordinating and reporting overall results of conservation efforts.
The Habitats Directive of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora is a key component of the European conservation policy. It established the European Union's Natura 2000 network of protected areas. [1] Within the European Union, the Habitats Directive implements the 1 June 1982 Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats of the Council of Europe. The Habitats Directive has a smaller geographical scope than the Berne Convention but stronger enforcement mechanisms. [2]
The challenges to habitats and species vary across Europe due to differences in climate, topography, soil conditions and so on, but the problems and solutions may be similar between neighboring countries, which may benefit from coordinating conservation efforts for sites within the same biogeographical region. [3] Annex III of the Habitats Directive discusses a 2-stage approach to prioritizing conservation: [4]
Alfred Russel Wallace made an early classification of the world's biogeographical regions and subregions in 1876. He placed Europe in the Palaearctic Region (today called the Palearctic realm), divided between the North Europe and Mediterranean subregions. The subregions roughly matched Augustin Pyramus de Candolle's botanical regions, and were basically an attempt to define areas of strongly related endemism. [5]
The modern Biogeographical Regions Map of Europe was developed for use by the European Union member countries in applying the criteria of the Habitats Directive, Annex III, Stage 2: "... to assess the community importance and to select from the national lists the sites which will become Special Areas for Conservation." The proposed sites within each of the biogeographical regions are evaluated against the criteria given in Annex III. [6]
The original Habitats Directive of 21 May 1992 identified five biogeographical regions: Alpine, Atlantic, Continental, Macaronesian and Mediterranean. These provide a geographical framework for creating a draft list of Sites of Community Importance from the lists provided by the member states. [6] The Boreal region was added in 1995 when Austria, Finland and Sweden joined the European Union. [6]
In 1996 the Standing Committee of the Berne Convention decided to set up the Emerald network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest (ASCI's). [6] In 1998 the Standing Committee of the Berne Convention made it clear that for European Union member states the Emerald sites were the European Union's Natura 2000 network sites. The map of Biogeographical Regions therefore had to be expanded to cover all of Europe, not just the European Union. [7] Five more biogeographical regions were added: Anatolian, Arctic, Black Sea, Pannonian and Steppic. The revised Biogeographical Regions map for the Pan-European area was approved by the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention in November 2001. [8]
The European Agency for Environmental Protection has taken a pragmatic approach to defining biogeographic regions in Europe. [9] Basic principles included to limit the number of regions to those already identified in the Habitats Directive, with no "sub-classes", and to produce only a small scale map in which small islands of different regions or of no defined region would be included in the surrounding major region. [7] For example, Turkey is divided into the Mediterranean, Black Sea and Anatolian biogeographic regions, but it could be argued that parts of that country belong to the Alpine region. [10] For the sake of simplicity, national borders were sometimes taken as the borders between regions. [10] Paper-based maps were used for some areas, so some of the boundaries are imprecise. [8]
The biogeographical regions and the main threats to their biodiversity as of 2003 are: [11] [12]
| Region | Countries | % of EU | Main threats to biodiversity | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arctic | Iceland, Norway, Russia | 0.0% |
| |
| Atlantic | Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Spain, France, Ireland, Portugal, Netherlands, United Kingdom | 18.4% |
| |
| Boreal | Estonia, Finland, Latvia, Lithuania, Sweden, Belarus, Russia | 18.8% |
| |
| Continental | Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czech Republic, Germany, Denmark, France, Italy, Luxembourg, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Moldova, Serbia | 29.3% |
| |
| Alpine | Austria, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Italy, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Slovenia, Slovakia, Ukraine, Russia, Georgia, Armenia (Alps, Pyrenees, Carpathians, Dinaric Alps, Balkans, Rhodopes, Sondes, Urals, Caucasia) | 8.6% |
| |
| Pannonian | Czech Republic, Hungary, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Ukraine | 3.0% |
| |
| Steppic | Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Russia | 0.9 |
| |
| Black Sea | Bulgaria, Romania, Turkey, Georgia | 0.3% |
| |
| Mediterranean | Cyprus, Spain, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Turkey | 20.6% |
| |
| Macaronesian | Spain, Portugal (Azores, Madeira, Canaries islands) | 0.2% |
| |
| Anatolian | Turkey | 0.0% |
|
A special protection area (SPA) is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union (EU) have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certain particularly threatened birds. Together with special areas of conservation (SACs), the SPAs form a network of protected sites across the EU, called Natura 2000. Each SPA has an EU code – for example the North Norfolk Coast SPA has the code UK9009031.
A special area of conservation (SAC) is defined in the European Union's Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), also known as the Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora. They are to protect the 220 habitats and approximately 1,000 species listed in annex I and II of the directive which are considered to be of European interest following criteria given in the directive. They must be chosen from the sites of Community importance by the member states and designated SAC by an act assuring the conservation measures of the natural habitat.
Natura 2000 is a network of nature protection areas in the territory of the European Union. It is made up of Special Areas of Conservation and Special Protection Areas designated under the Habitats Directive and the Birds Directive, respectively. The network includes both terrestrial and Marine Protected Areas.
The BernConvention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats, also known as the Bern Convention, is a binding international legal instrument in the field of Nature Conservation, it covers the natural heritage in Europe, as well as in some African countries. The Convention was open for signature on 19 September 1979 and came into force on 1 June 1982. It is particularly concerned about protecting natural habitats and endangered species, including migratory species.
The Emerald network is a network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest to conserve wild flora and fauna and their natural habitats of Europe, which was launched in 1989 by the Council of Europe as part of its work under the Berne Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats that came into force on 1 June 1982. It is to be set up in each Contracting Party or observer state to the convention.
The Habitats Directive is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The European Community was reformed as the European Union the following year, but the directive is still recognised.
Yalgoo is an interim Australian bioregion located in Western Australia. It has an area of 5,087,577 hectares. The bioregion, together with the Avon Wheatbelt and Geraldton Sandplains bioregions, is part of the larger Southwest Australia savanna ecoregion as classified by the World Wildlife Fund.
A Site of Community Importance (SCI) is defined in the European Commission Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) as a site which, in the biogeographical region or regions to which it belongs, contributes significantly to the maintenance or restoration at a favourable conservation status of a natural habitat type or of a species and may also contribute significantly to the coherence of Natura 2000, and/or contributes significantly to the maintenance of biological diversity within the biogeographic region or regions concerned.
Protected areas of Poland include the following categories, as defined by the Act on Protection of Nature of 16 April 2004, by the Polish Parliament:
Montaña Palentina is a natural park in the north of the province of Palencia in Castile and León, Spain.
The LIFE programme is the European Union's funding instrument for the environment and climate action. The general objective of LIFE is to contribute to the implementation, updating and development of EU environmental and climate policy and legislation by co-financing projects with European added value. LIFE began in 1992 and to date there have been five phases of the programme. During this period, LIFE has co-financed some 4600 projects across the EU, with a total contribution of approximately 6.5 billion Euros to the protection of the environment and of climate. For the next phase of the programme (2021–2027) the European Commission proposed to raise the budget to 5.45 billion Euro.
The Protected Areas of the Azores are the basic administrative-territorial and conservation structures in the archipelago of the Azores and the surrounding oceans. The areas integrate the entirety of the Azores within its Exclusive Economic Zone, as well as the surrounding waters, under the international agreements and conventions. The network realizes the categorization of management for protected areas adopted by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), adapting it to the specific geographical, environmental, cultural and political-administrative territory of the archipelago.
Many parts of Scotland are protected in accordance with a number of national and international designations because of their environmental, historical or cultural value. Protected areas can be divided according to the type of resource which each seeks to protect. NatureScot has various roles in the delivery of many environmental designations in Scotland, i.e. those aimed at protecting flora and fauna, scenic qualities and geological features. Historic Environment Scotland is responsible for designations that protect sites of historic and cultural importance. Some international designations, such as World Heritage Sites, can cover both categories of site.
The Mediterranean Biogeographic Region is the biogeographic region around and including the Mediterranean Sea. The term is defined by the European Environment Agency as applying to the land areas of Europe that border on the Mediterranean Sea, and the corresponding territorial waters. The region is rich in biodiversity and has many endemic species. The term may also be used in the broader sense of all the lands of the Mediterranean Basin, or in the narrow sense of just the Mediterranean Sea.
The Boreal Biogeographic Region is the biogeographic region of Northern Europe that consists primarily of coniferous forests and wetlands.
The Atlantic Biogeographic Region is the biogeographic region of Europe bordering the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea.
The Continental Biogeographic Region is a biogeographic region of Europe that extend in a broad band from east to west through the center of the continent.
The Black Sea Biogeographic Region is a biogeographic region of land bordering the west and south of the Black Sea, as defined by the European Environment Agency.
The Alpine Biogeographic Region is a biogeographic region, as defined by the European Environment Agency, that covers the mountainous regions of Europe.
The Steppic Biogeographic Region is a biogeographic region of Europe, as defined by the European Environment Agency.