important plant areas in central and eastern europe - Plantlife

Executive Summary
Recommendations:
IPAs should be recognised as priority sites in local, national and regional
conservation policies and action.
Threatened IPAs should be prioritised for conservation action and protection
increased where necessary.
Poor forestry management is one of the most significant threats to IPAs and
there is no pan-European or EU sustainable forestry legislation.
• IPAs, especially those with old growth or ‘virgin’ forest, should be targeted
for inclusion in protected area systems
• IPAs with forestry activities should be targeted for sustainable forestry
management schemes and forest certification schemes
• All afforestation schemes should undergo thorough and effective
environmental impact assessments
Agriculture (land abandonment and intensification) is one of the most important
factors affecting IPAs, especially natural and semi-natural grasslands.
• The Kiev Declaration (2003) and the message from Malahide (2004)
highlighted the need to bring high nature value farmland under biodiversity
sensitive management. IPAs should be recognised as criteria for high nature
value farmland and included in national and regional programmes such as
agri-environment schemes of rural development programmes.
Development, especially tourism and recreation, and urban and transport, are
widespread threats to IPAs.
• Tourist development at IPAs should be assessed for sustainability and
developed with local land managers and relevant specialists.
• All EU funded development projects should undergo environmental impact
assessments to ensure that they do not contradict EU biodiversity
conservation aims
Monitoring the status of species and habitats at IPAs should be an important
part of national monitoring programmes, and should be incorporated into
regional monitoring systems such as the EU Habitats Directive and the Water
Framework Directive.
IPA identification is an ongoing process and gaps in the identification of sites
should be targeted.
• Each country has indicated that more sites will be identified as more data
becomes available
National and European Red Lists are essential for providing sound data on the
most threatened species in Europe.
The annexes of the Bern Convention and the EU Habitats Directive should be
updated to recognise important species and habitats from all regions of Europe
and all taxonomic groups.
The European Commission and member states should confirm their
commitment to halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010 by providing adequate
dedicated funds for biodiversity conservation either through an improved ‘LIFE
+’ fund or through the Rural Development Programme.
BRANO MOLNAR
NEJC JOGAN
ANTOANETA PETROVA
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