Nature and environmental directives

The European Union has been developing legal instruments with which to protect nature ever since the 1970s. The most important of these are the Birds Directive, the Habitat Directive and the
Natura 2000 North Sea programme and the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive.

Birds Directive

The European Birds Directive (1979) contains a list of 187 rare or threatened bird species. For these bird species and for important overwintering sites used by migratory birds, special protection zones, known as Birds Directive sites or SPAs must be designated.

Three sites in the North Sea will be or already have been designated as Birds Directive sites or SPAs: the North Sea Coastal Zone, the Voordelta (both these sites have already been designated) and the Frisian Front (to be designated).

Habitat Directive

The European Habitat Directive (1992) provides for the designation and protection of sites containing certain habitat types as well as sites that are the habitat of certain protected species. The habitat (Latin: it inhabits) is the place where a particular species of animal lives or where a certain biotic community occurs. The habitat is taken to mean both the living (biotic) and the non-living (abiotic) environment. The habitat of a biotic community consists exclusively of the non-living (abiotic) environment. The habitat of a seal, for example, can include more than one site: the sandflats where she gives birth to her young and the marine site where she hunts for food. Designating these sites creates what are known as the Natura 2000 site. These form a coherent European ecological network.

Marine Strategy Framework Directive

On 15 July 2008 the European Marine Strategy Framework Directive was launched (pdf: 22 pages). The member states are devising marine strategies for all the seas bordering Europe. Based on these strategies, they will take measures with the aim of getting the environment into good condition between now and 2020. For example, the Framework Directive is intended to ensure a balance between a healthy marine environment and human use of the sea in a sustainable economic way.

Natura 2000 programme

Natura 2000 is the name given to the coherent network of protected conservation sites. The Netherlands has 167 of these sites within its territory. This total includes the five North Sea sites that have been newly notified to the EU.