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For reporting on state and trends of biodiversity from an ecosystem perspective, information on the association of species and habitat types to ecosystems is required. The database contains those associations based on butterflies, mammal, reptile and amphibian species listed in European Atlases, all species and habitats considered for reporting under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive and all bird species considered for reporting under Article 12 of the Birds Directive. The species and habitat types are linked to the MAES ecosystems types, which are used under Target 2 of the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy. This allocation of species and habitat per ecosystem is done for each of the nine terrestrial biogeographical regions (according to the Habitats Directive) and each marine region (according to the Marine Strategy Framework Directive).
EU trends in progress towards the EU biodiversity strategy 2020 targets and actions, including key trends since the EU 2010 biodiversity baseline.
Europe´s seas are under pressure. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can act as a key management measures to safeguard marine ecosystems and biodiversity so to maintain their potential to deliver key services to our societies and economies. European countries have been extending marine protected areas across Europe’s seas. More effective management of these marine protected areas and a convergent implementation of related legislation now constitute important challenges. A new report by the European Environment Agency assesses the progress made and concludes with perspectives for the future.
Europe's seas are under pressure. Marine protected areas (MPAs) can act as a key conservation measure to safeguard marine ecosystems and biodiversity as well as the services these ecosystems provide. The report provides an overview on progress made to date in establishing MPAs and MPA networks in Europe's seas, specifically MPAs reported by European Union (EU) Member States up to and including 2012. It also discusses how best to assess the effectiveness of these MPAs and determine their effectiveness in protecting biodiversity across Europe's seas.
Forests can retain excess rainwater, prevent extreme run-offs and reduce the damage from flooding. They can also help mitigate the effects of droughts. A new report published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA) provides an overview of the water-retention potential of European forests.
This report provides for the first time a European overview of the role of forests in water retention, based on the Water Accounts Production Database developed at the EEA. The results represent 287 sub-basins hosting more than 65 000 catchments across Europe. The impact of forests on water retention is measured according to three parameters/characteristics: forest cover (measured in hectares), forest types (coniferous, broad-leaved, mixed), and the degree of management of the forests (‘protected’ versus unprotected/commercial forests). The estimation of the water-retention potential is derived from the relationships between input (rainfall) and output (water run-off into rivers and lakes) as affected by these three forest characteristics.
Building and managing a well-planned network of natural areas might provide an effective and, in many cases, cheaper solution for coping with natural disasters such as floods or landslides. A new report published today by the European Environment Agency (EEA) explores how ‘green infrastructure’ can help Europe prepare for and reduce the loss from weather- and climate-related hazards.
This report focuses on certain types of extreme events and natural hazards at European scale that will be very likely amplified by ongoing climate change, i.e. landslides, avalanches, floods and storm surges. In addition, the report also touches upon the green infrastructure and ecosystem services contributing to global climate regulation. The analysis is carried out using spatially explicit data centred on the physical capacity of ecosystems to deliver services that can mitigate natural hazard risks.
For references, please go to https://www.eea.europa.eu/themes/biodiversity/dm or scan the QR code.
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