important plant areas in central and eastern europe - hirc.botanic.hr ...

Existing legislation & programmesIPAs, the EU Habitats Directive and the Natura 2000 NetworkContextThe EU Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) adopted in 1992, is the main EU legal frameworkfor protecting species and habitats of European importance, and must be transcribedinto each member state’s national legal system.The IPA project is designed to supportthis process by providing additional data, but also to provide an external check on itseffectiveness.The Directive obliges each member state to identify sites of community interest (SCIs)and from these ‘Special Areas of Conservation’ (SACs). SACs must be afforded legalprotection and be maintained or restored to ‘favourable conservation status’ byappropriate management.The European Commission assesses national site proposals inBiogeographic seminars and qualifying sites make up the Natura 2000 network alongwith Special Protection Areas (SPAs) from the Birds Directive.Accession, enlargement and the annexesThe ten new member states have brought with them many large, un-fragmented naturalareas, and a diversity of species and habitats of European importance. The annexes ofspecies and habitats should reflect the diversity and richness of this region and beupdated where necessary to reflect the new boundaries.Accession countries, such asRomania and Bulgaria, are particularly rich in species and habitats and the Directiveshould recognise this diversity in its annexes and implementation.ANTOANETA PETROVAPinus heldreichii in Bulgaria, a globalllythreatened forest type and one of themany species-rich habitats that Romaniaand Bulgaria will bring to the EU.93