The implementation of the Habitats Directive in Spain has involved the participation of various actors and their coordinated action. The actions of the General Administration of the State and the autonomous communities (CCAA) take into account the constitutional system of powers. In this way, the transposition of the Habitats Directive into the Spanish legal system first required the establishment by the State of the regulatory framework of reference through the approval of the legislative bases for transposition today represented by Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity. The CCAA exercise their legislative powers with respect to these bases, and exercise management powers, except those that affect the marine spaces held by the State, outside of those cases in which co-management with the CCAAA may occur when there is ecological continuity of the marine ecosystem with another terrestrial natural space subject to protection.
As clearly reflected in the document “Local Administrations and Red Natura 2000. SEO/BirdLife.Madrid”[13], the simplified process was as follows:
First.- The Member States had to prepare for each geographical region present in their territory a proposal for a list of LICs based on the established criteria and the
existing scientific information and send it to the European Commission for analysis and final approval.
Second.- the European Commission approves the SCI Lists of each biogeographic region and publishes the approving decisions in the OJEU (Official Journal of the European Union).
Third.- After that, the member states have a period of six years to develop their conservation measures and declare them as SAC (Special Protection Zones): these measures are contained in appropriate management plans and instruments (Law 42/2007, of December 13, on Natural Heritage and Biodiversity), which are approved by the competent CCAA**.
The first of these phases involved a great coordination effort between the State Administration and the CCAA. This is explained in the 1994-2000 Report on the application of Directive 92/43/EEC “Habitats” of the General Directorate of Nature Conservation of the then Ministry of the Environment.[14] Knowledge of natural wealth was insufficient in 1992 to meet the provisions of the Directive, making it necessary to establish an exhaustive National Inventory on the types of habitats in Annex I of the Directive. This inventory involved an enormous work effort in which 30 centers, 27 universities, 3 research centers and almost 300 researchers were involved, according to data from said report.
A working group made up of representatives of all the Autonomous Communities and the then Ministry of Agriculture was created in 1995. The preparation of the lists was structured in three large blocks:
1st Block: development by the AGE of the national inventories of habitats and taxa of Annexes I and II of the Directive, and their organization and integration in a digitalized Geographic Information System (GIS), together with an analysis of the insufficiency of the existing protected spaces.
2nd Block: the CCAA prepared the Lists of places in their territory. All the documentary inventory material provided by the AGE and that which they themselves possessed were used.
3rd Blocks: it was carried out jointly by the AGE and the CCAA: the national list of places in each biogeographic region was formed from the integration of the lists of the CCAA. Before being sent to the European Commission, a final evaluation of these national Lists had to be carried out, which guaranteed their internal coherence and compliance with the Requirements established in the Directive.
Regarding the aforementioned management, the CCAA declare said spaces and approve said technical management and use plans, subject to a process of public information, formal approval and publication (Law 42/2007, of December 13).
Coordination is also reflected in this phase. As highlighted in the aforementioned document “Local Administrations and Natura Network 2000. SEO/BirdLife”, there are Conservation Guidelines for the Natura Network approved by the Environment Sector Conference of July 13, 2011 (BOE 244 of October 10) that serve as a guiding framework for drafting management plans: they contain geographical delimitation, diagnosis of biodiversity elements including their conservation status, pressures and threats, conservation and restoration objectives, management activities to achieve them, monitoring and evaluation, economic valuation and management priorities.
The assessment of appropriate management is the responsibility of the Member States: the same administrations responsible for its management are responsible for monitoring and evaluating the state of conservation of the habitats and species that motivated their declaration.
Information is periodically communicated to the Ministry (changes, evaluation, new proposals...) so that it reflects the changes in the SPANISH INVENTORY OF NATURAL HERITAGE AND BIODIVERSITY and so that it can send the National Reports required by the Habitats Directive to the European Commission.
Likewise, the evaluation of all the repercussions that any project may have on the Natura 2000 Network must be carried out. As reflected in the “Local Administrations and Natura 2000 Network. SEO/BirdLife”, this evaluation, for reasons of procedural economy, was integrated into the framework of the already existing EIA and EPP procedures (Law 21/2013, of December 9, on Environmental Evaluation): if the evaluation is negative, conformity cannot be given to said plans or projects.
This implies the impact on other actors, such as Town Councils, which although they lack direct powers in the preparation of said lists and declaration of the Natura 2000 Network spaces, nevertheless have the obligation to ensure the conservation of these spaces in the exercise of their powers, for example when approving their urban planning instruments, granting planning licenses and qualified activities, etc.
Its role in the transmission of information from the Natura 2000 Network is also very important, making citizens aware of the mandatory provisions established in the management plans, as well as submitting the plans or projects they wish to promote to impact evaluation. At the same time, they are vectors of environmental information, in accordance with Law 27/2006, of July 18, which regulates the rights of access to information, public participation and access to justice in environmental matters, and facilitators of knowledge of the values that the Habitats directive safeguards, thus promoting the co-responsibility of all, taking into account its nature as an administration closest to citizens.
The implementation cycle will finally take into account the contributions that may be made from civil society and its organizations, taking into account the obligation to submit to public information all draft declarations and approval of the management plan for these spaces. Many organizations are also crucial in their processes of transmitting information and values and promoting social co-responsibility.