Natura 2000 areas

The indicator provides information on the area protected under Natura 2000 that is used for agriculture and/or forestry.

share of territory under Natura 2000 by categories (Special Protection Areas - SPAs, Sites of Community Importance - SCIs, Natura 2000's network)
share of UAA under Natura 2000 (agricultural area, agricultural area including natural grassland)
share of forest area under Natura 2000 (forest area, forest area including transitional woodland-shrub)

This indicator provides information on the preservation of the natural environment and landscape and on the protection and improvement of natural resources. Under Natura 2000, a network of areas is designated to conserve natural habitats and species of wildlife which are rare, endangered or vulnerable in the European Union.

For the Special Protection Areas designated under the Birds Directive, the responsibility for designation lies entirely with the Member States. The Commission (DG Environment) has to be informed when new areas are designated or existing areas are modified. The information received on new or revised areas is passed on to the European Environment Agency (EEA), which regularly produces consolidated versions of the SPA database for the whole EU.

For the proposed Sites of Community Importance, which will in the future be Special Areas of Conservation under the Habitats Directive, there is a three-stage process that starts with a proposal by Member States. The proposals are transferred to the Commission, which evaluates with the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity (ETC_BD) whether or not the proposed sites ensure sufficient protection and, on the basis of that evaluation, asks the Member States to propose more sites whenever necessary. The EEA regularly (once a year) compiles all the information received into a single EU database.

The lists of sites foreseen in the Habitats Directive are divided into nine bio-geographic regions (Pannonian, Boreal, Continental, Atlantic, Alpine, Macaronesian, Black Sea, Steppic and Mediterranean) within the territory of the Union. The first list for the Macaronesian region was agreed in December 2001. The second list was adopted in December 2003 for the Alpine region, followed in 2004 by the lists for the Continental and Atlantic regions. The list for the Boreal region was adopted in 2005, and the list for the Mediterranean region in 2006. The lists for the Steppic and the Black Sea regions were adopted in 2008.

Natura 2000 sites include different types of European ecosystems. Some sites are in coastal areas or in open marine waters, some contain lakes or are riverine, and many include forest and farmland. For calculating an improved version of this indicator, geo-referenced information is required.

The data sets used consist of the Natura 2000 Spatial Dataset and the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) raster dataset. Although CLC categories do not fully correspond to the statistical definitions of agricultural area (UAA) or forests, the overlay of the two data sets allows an accurate geographical estimation of land use data inside Natura 2000 sites.

To reduce and explain the discrepancies with other surveys and national inventories, the estimation of the UAA and forest includes separately the CLC classes "Natural grassland" and "Transitional woodland –shrubs".

Agricultural area: CLC 2
Agricultural area including natural grassland: CLC 2+ 321
Forest area : CLC 3
Forest area including transitional woodland-shrub: CLC3 +324

Type of indicator	Environment
Indicator C34	Natura 2000 areas
Definition	The indicator provides information on the area protected under Natura 2000 that is used for agriculture and/or forestry. This indicator consists of 3 sub-indicators: share of territory under Natura 2000 by categories (Special Protection Areas - SPAs, Sites of Community Importance - SCIs, Natura 2000's network) share of UAA under Natura 2000 (agricultural area, agricultural area including natural grassland) share of forest area under Natura 2000 (forest area, forest area including transitional woodland-shrub) This indicator provides information on the preservation of the natural environment and landscape and on the protection and improvement of natural resources. Under Natura 2000, a network of areas is designated to conserve natural habitats and species of wildlife which are rare, endangered or vulnerable in the European Union. The Natura 2000 network consists of sites: designated by Member States as Special Protection Areas (SPA) under the Birds Directive (Council Directive 79/409/EEC of 2 April 1979), proposed by Member States as Sites of Community Importance (pSCI) and later designated as Special Areas of Conservation (SAC) under the Habitats Directive (Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992). For the Special Protection Areas designated under the Birds Directive, the responsibility for designation lies entirely with the Member States. The Commission (DG Environment) has to be informed when new areas are designated or existing areas are modified. The information received on new or revised areas is passed on to the European Environment Agency (EEA), which regularly produces consolidated versions of the SPA database for the whole EU. For the proposed Sites of Community Importance, which will in the future be Special Areas of Conservation under the Habitats Directive, there is a three-stage process that starts with a proposal by Member States. The proposals are transferred to the Commission, which evaluates with the European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity (ETC_BD) whether or not the proposed sites ensure sufficient protection and, on the basis of that evaluation, asks the Member States to propose more sites whenever necessary. The EEA regularly (once a year) compiles all the information received into a single EU database. The lists of sites foreseen in the Habitats Directive are divided into nine bio-geographic regions (Pannonian, Boreal, Continental, Atlantic, Alpine, Macaronesian, Black Sea, Steppic and Mediterranean) within the territory of the Union. The first list for the Macaronesian region was agreed in December 2001. The second list was adopted in December 2003 for the Alpine region, followed in 2004 by the lists for the Continental and Atlantic regions. The list for the Boreal region was adopted in 2005, and the list for the Mediterranean region in 2006. The lists for the Steppic and the Black Sea regions were adopted in 2008. Natura 2000 sites include different types of European ecosystems. Some sites are in coastal areas or in open marine waters, some contain lakes or are riverine, and many include forest and farmland. For calculating an improved version of this indicator, geo-referenced information is required. The data sets used consist of the Natura 2000 Spatial Dataset and the CORINE Land Cover (CLC) raster dataset. Although CLC categories do not fully correspond to the statistical definitions of agricultural area (UAA) or forests, the overlay of the two data sets allows an accurate geographical estimation of land use data inside Natura 2000 sites. To reduce and explain the discrepancies with other surveys and national inventories, the estimation of the UAA and forest includes separately the CLC classes "Natural grassland" and "Transitional woodland –shrubs". CLC classes used are: Agricultural area: CLC 2 Agricultural area including natural grassland: CLC 2+ 321 Forest area : CLC 3 Forest area including transitional woodland-shrub: CLC3 +324
Unit of measurement	1-3: % of area under Natura 2000
Data source	1: Natura 2000 Barometer Statistics Report (release version End2018 – 15/03/2019) 2-3: CORINE Land Cover (CLC) 2018
References/location of the data	Natura 2000 Barometer statistics https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/dashboards/natura-2000-barometer Natura 2000 data - the European network of protected site https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures/natura-2000-birds-and-habitat-directives-8 CORINE Land Cover (CLC) 2018 https://land.copernicus.eu/pan-european/corine-land-cover/clc2018?tab=download
Data collection level	Regional (NUTS 2).
Frequency	Natura 2000: every year CORINE Land Cover: depending on the frequency foreseen in the new CLC+ (see https://www.copernicus.eu/sites/default/files/2019-01/Copernicus_Work_Programme_2019.pdf
Delay	Natura 2000: 1 year CORINE Land Cover: 1,5 years.
Comments/caveats