EU's Conservation Efforts Need More Strategic Investment to Meet Continental Commitments

Virgilio Hermoso,Lluís Brotons,Miguel Clavero,Dani Villero

doi:10.1111/conl.12248

Abstract

AbstractThe European Union (EU) has made significant conservation efforts in the last two decades, guided by the Birds and Habitats Directives, currently under evaluation. Despite these efforts a large proportion of priority species are still in unfavorable condition and continue declining. For this reason, a thoughtful review of the implementation of conservation efforts in Europe is needed to identify potential causes behind this poor effectiveness. We compiled information on the distribution of all conservation funds under the LIFE‐Nature, the main financial tool for conservation in Europe. We found that LIFE‐Nature has not adequately covered continental conservation needs. The majority of funds have been directed toward nonthreatened species or regions of low conservation priority. Given the limited resources available, two key aspects are in urgent need for revision and improvement. First, the distribution of funds should be guided by continental and global conservation needs and planned at the EU scale. Second, new mechanisms are required to set conservation priorities in a dynamic fashion, rather than relying on fixed lists (i.e., the Directives’ Annexes) that may rapidly become outdated. These improvements would require new mechanisms to set priorities and redistribution of conservation efforts, supported by adequate policy and a more effective top‐down control on investment.

Highlights

Conservation Letters, March 2017, 10(2), 231–237 Copyright and Photocopying: C 2016 The Authors
We found that LIFE-Nature has not adequately covered continental conservation needs
With an accumulated experience of more than 20 years, this program represents a critical milestone for assessing whether conservation efforts made by the European Union (EU) have targeted species and areas with higher continental conservation needs and have been relevant toward achieving the EUs conservation goals

Summary

Introduction

Conservation Letters, March 2017, 10(2), 231–237 Copyright and Photocopying: C 2016 The Authors. In order to guide conservation efforts, the Directives provide Annexes listing priority species and habitats that should be the focus of conservation management. In order to get a complete picture of the implementation of the LIFE-Nature program, we reviewed information on the investment made, spatial distribution and species benefited under each of the 1,448 projects funded in the period 1992–2013 (Supporting Information Appendix 1).

Results

Conclusion