Abstract
The importance of Natura 2000 network for the conservation of natural habitats, wild flora and fauna at European level is undeniable. However, it may not have reached its full potential since the loss of biodiversity continues to increase year on year. Further on, a third of the plant species listed in the Habitats Directive to guide the declaration of European Union Natura 2000 network of protected areas is not threatened and there is broad agreement on the need to review and update the species list. Here, the effectiveness of Natura 2000 in the conservation of Spanish bryophytes and vascular plants included in the Habitats Directive Annex II is analysed and compared with the one offered to the species included in the Spanish Red Lists. Results show a remarkable coverage of Natura 2000 over the distribution areas of threatened species, thus providing an umbrella effect on these taxa. It confirms that the number of plant species in the Habitats Directive could be significantly extended without altering the current configuration of the network. This would allow the incorporation of scientific advances produced since the Habitats Directive was approved almost 30 years ago, and will contribute to the goals of the new European Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, such as to consider impacts caused by alien species, land use or climate changes.
Highlights
The biodiversity crisis and the ongoing sixth mass extinc tion are facts assumed by the scientific community and international agencies, responses adopted to halt the loss of biodiversity have not increased at the same rate as the threats (Johnson et al, 2017)
The European Union carried out a similar study at a smaller resolution (50 km), where it was found that N2000 had a mean area coverage of 26.5% for mammals, 26.4% for amphib ians, 29.7% for reptiles, and 37.4% for butterflies
Based on bryophytes and vascular plants, we confirm previous re sults showing that N2000 could efficiently house species of interest beyond those included at present in HD annexes (Hermoso et al, 2019b)
Summary
The biodiversity crisis and the ongoing sixth mass extinc tion are facts assumed by the scientific community and international agencies, responses adopted to halt the loss of biodiversity have not increased at the same rate as the threats (Johnson et al, 2017). The IPBES report for Europe and Central Asia confirms that the situation has worsened and up to 28% of their species are threatened, most notably mosses and liverworts (50%), and vascular plants (33%) (Fischer et al, 2018) To address this dramatic loss of biodiversity, the Convention on Biological Diversity (Aichi Biodiversity Target 11) proposed to protect a significant percentage of the planet, at least 17% of the Earth's surface by 2020 (CBD, 2010). Following the 5th Global Biodiversity Outlook, the proportion of the planet's land and oceans designated as protected areas has been achieved, but the elements related to the quality of protected areas were not (SCBD, 2020) Another more ambitious proposal has suggested protecting half of Earth to remedy the massive loss of biodiversity and natural habitats (Locke, 2014; Wilson, 2016). Complementary, organizations such as BirdLife proposed to select crit ical areas for bird conservation (Important Bird Areas; cf. Bennun and Njoroge, 2000), an initiative later followed for other taxonomic groups such as plants (Important Plant Areas, cf. Anderson, 2002), and extended to sites of global significance for the conservation of biodi versity through the concept of Key Biodiversity Areas (Eken et al, 2004)
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