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1 in 4 Euro Wildlife Sites Unprotected

For immediate release - 15 June 2000

Almost a quarter of Europe's important wildlife sites will not be protected under proposals put forward by European Governments. Today WWF, the conservation organization in association with five Irish conservation groups, proposed more than 1500 extra sites for protection in fourteen European Union countries.

EU nature conservation law, the Habitats Directive, obliges member states to propose sites for protection to ensure the survival of Europe's most threatened species and habitats. But according to research by WWF, member states are not nominating enough sites to guarantee the survival of threatened species such as the brown bear, the lynx, wolf, otter, harbour porpoise and loggerhead turtle.

WWF is urging the European Commission and member states to add the sites proposed by WWF to the official list of sites to be protected under the Habitats Directive.

"European Governments should not be allowed to exclude almost one in four of Europe's important wildlife sites from protection under the Habitats Directive" said Sandra Jen, WWF's European Biodiversity Policy Officer. "It would be a tragedy if species like the brown bear, the Iberian lynx and the harbour porpoise became extinct in Europe because member states failed to protect enough sites when they had the chance. WWF believes that at least an additional 1500 sites across Europe need to be protected."

Four out of every five important wildlife sites in Ireland have been excluded from the Government's official list of sites for protection under the Habitats Directive, compared to over half in the UK, Belgium, Netherlands and Portugal, making the situation in Ireland among the worst in the EU.

Additional sites proposed by environmental groups number 205 in Italy, 181 in Spain, 107 in France, 167 in Sweden, 152 in the UK and 259 in Ireland. The sites for Ireland were proposed jointly by the Irish Peatland Conservation Council, An Taisce, Birdwatch Ireland, Irish Wildlife Trust, and Coastwatch Ireland following consultation with many experts and special interest groups nationally.

Sites proposed by WWF but excluded so far from the official list of sites to be protected under the Habitats Directive include the proposed rowing and canoeing centre for the 2004 Olympic Games in Schinias, Greece, the Kaiser Mountains in Austria, the Pembrokeshire coast in Wales and the Massif de Sesques et de l'Ossau in the French Pyrenees, an important bear habitat. In addition, many sites proposed by member states are too small.

In Ireland sites include areas proposed for the bottlenose dolphin, otter, marsh fritillary, freshwater crayfish, lesser horseshoe bat as well as habitats such as bog woodlands, limestone pavement and raised bogs.

WWF's proposed sites represent only those that are necessary to save 19 species and 25 habitats ­ from the more than 600 listed in the Habitats Directive. The member states and the European Commission have completed a first series of meetings to choose the sites to be protected, and a second series is due to start in September ­ probably to be finalised in 2001.

Country	Number of sites proposed by member states	Number of extra sites proposed by environmental groups	Important wildlife sites excluded from official proposals
AT Austria	120	54	34%
BE Belgium	101	79	55%
DK Denmark	194	50	28%
ES Spain	703	181	27%
FI Finland	1368	99	9%
FR France	1064	107	11%
GR Greece	230	5	3%
IE Ireland	138	259	81%
IT Italy	2366	205	16%
LU Luxembourg	38	47	64%
NL Netherlands	76	78	57%
PT Portugal	31	38	57%
SE Sweden	1807	167	18%
UK United Kingdom	339	152	54%
Total EU14	8575	1521	23%

Column 1: Total number of sites proposed by member states for protection under the Habitats Directive.
Column 2: Total number of additional sites proposed by environmental groups for protection under the Habitats Directive (based on a sample of 25 habitat types and 18 species)
Column 3: Proportion of important wildlife sites excluded from official Government list of sites proposed for protection under the Habitats Directive based on WWF's sample of habitats and species

Figures are only available for fourteen EU countries because Germany has not submitted a full list of proposed sites for protection under the Habitats Directive.

ENDS

For further information: Julian Scola, Press Officer, WWF European Policy Office, tel +32 2 743 8806, email jscola@wwfnet.org

or

Dr Rosaleen Dwyer, Irish Peatland Conservation Council, 119 Capel Street, Dublin 1, Ireland

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