Management of the sites by the authorities of the Member States
Contenido
La Directiva de Hábitats, no impone ningún método a utilizar para la designación de los sitios o el tipo de gestión a utilizar, cada Estado miembro podrá utilizar los métodos que desee. La reglamentación varía así de un Estado a otro:.
La mayoría de los países tratan de usar medidas agro-medioambientales para las actividades agrícolas en el ámbito de los sitios de Natura 2000, completadas en algunos países por un contrato adicional.
La gestión puede ser centralizada, como en algunos países del norte de Europa, o descentralizada, como en Francia, o confiada a los organismos regionales para el medio ambiente, o a los municipios (en el caso de Suecia). Grecia, en lo que a ella compete, ha creado entidades privadas, pero controladas por el Estado para administrar sus sitios.[12].
Germany
In Germany, the establishment of Natura 2000 is organized around the Länder "Federal State (Germany)"), which have their own laws on this matter. An initial list of sites is compiled by the Länder, where a first debate is launched. This list will be transmitted to the federal level, including the guarantee of scientific advice, and a second debate will take place between the various ministerial departments. Observations from these debates return to the Länder, which make decisions about the location of the sites. Once designated, the type of management still depends on the federal states, which can choose the regulatory, contractual or mixed method.[13].
The Natura 2000 network in Germany is very rich, with more than 5,200 sites, but it is also more fragmented than the French network. Covering approximately 14% of Germany's land area, the sites are broken down as follows:.
In the marine environment, around 2 million hectares (more than 40% of Germany's maritime territory) are proposed, of which 945,000 outside 12 miles.
Although very numerous, the Natura 2000 sites in Germany are relatively small, fragmented and without areas that serve as a buffer or defense.
Belgium
In Flanders there are 39 sites that have been proposed with an area of 101,891 hectares and there are currently 25 more in progress with 98,243 hectares.[14].
In Wallonia the "Natura 2000 decree" for the establishment of Natura 2000 dates from November 28, 2001 (published in January 2002,[15] but it was not until 7 years later (October 2008) when the government approved the project to designate the eight "Natura 2000 sites" (3,700 hectares on 220,945 hectares initially proposed,[16] in about 26 municipalities).
France
Each Natura 2000 site is managed by a manager appointed when the site was created. It can only be a territorial community or a group of local authorities related to the site. If there is no community to take charge, the prefect will be in charge of doing so. A steering committee ("Copil"), equivalent to the advisory commission of a nature reserve, is responsible for ensuring the correct application and proper functioning of the management of the site. It is made up of all interested parties: associations, farmers, communities, governments, hunters, fishermen, etc.
The manager, called technical operator, is the person in charge of animating the board of directors, and writing a very important document for the site: the objectives document (commonly called DOCOB). This document sets out the state of the natural and socio-economic wealth before establishing the management objectives of the reserve for the conservation of natural heritage, information and public awareness, the work carried out in collaboration with local actors, (in short, it is a list of the management objectives and the calendar and the means used to achieve the objectives to be achieved). For the drafting of the DOCOB query, the operator has the technical assistance of the habitats books, a synthesis of books of scientific knowledge on the habitats and species designated by the Habitats, Fauna, Flora Directive, and the conservation management methods and the conservation status of these habitats and species. The DOCOB also includes the list of Natura 2000 “standard contracts”, contracts that can be applied on the site. The document is made available to the public in all municipalities of the territory.
For major projects that were not initially included in the DOCOB, a procedure is provided for by the Habitats Directive to assess the impact on the site (whether a SPA or a SAZ). If the project can have a large enough impact, it is cancelled, unless an exception is made for imperative reasons of public interest (public health and safety, vital economic and social benefit, or indirect environmental benefit).
There are two types of 'Natura 2000 contracts', one for agricultural land and one for non-agricultural land. For agricultural lands they are the MAETER, (Territorialized Agro-Environmental Measures). These contracts are the equivalent of sustainable agriculture contracts, but for Natura 2000 sites. The contractor's remuneration, provided by the State and the European Union, is provided by the (National Center for the development of agricultural structures: CNASEA). For the other owners, the Natura 2000 Contract passes directly to the State, and is financed by the Ministry of the Environment (FGMN).
The contract defines the nature and form of state aid and the services that must be provided in return by the recipient. A Natura 2000 contract indicates the list of "good agricultural and environmental practices" that the contractor undertakes to apply, and the description of the commitments that, going beyond these good practices, will give rise to a financial counterpart.
Other Member States
The entry into the European Union of the new Member States (the ten new states in 2004, plus Bulgaria and Romania in 2007), has caused the necessary updating of natural habitats and animal and plant species that could benefit from inclusion in Natura 2000. In fact, the new members of Eastern Europe still contain species and natural habitats that, in Western Europe, are reduced to small areas or have disappeared.
This update mainly consists of updating the annexes to the directives. In the Habitats Directive, new habitats are listed in Annex I (habitats considered of "interest", such as the calcareous forests of Scots pines of the Western Carpathians, the forests of Cedrus brevifolia, etc.[21] New animal and plant species have been included in the directive and their situation has changed, such as the European bison, the green turtle Chelonia mydas, the bat Rousettus aegyptiacus, Proteus anguinus, several species of beetles and butterflies such as lycaenids), but also many species of plants.[21].
New species of birds have also been included in the annexes of the Birds Directive, or their statuses have changed, such as the saker falcon (Falco cherrug), the snowy plover (Charadrius alexandrinus), the painted gull (Larus minutus), etc.
With regard to large carnivores, for example, exemptions have been requested by the new Member States, due to the large population in some countries. In Romania, for example, in 2005 almost 6,900 brown bears were recorded in its territory, in the Carpathian mountains. In Lithuania, wolves are still hunted as trophies. The country has thus obtained a geographical derogation from Annexes II and IV of the Habitats Directive, allowing it not to designate new special areas for the conservation of the wolf, (at least as long as the conservation status of the Lithuanian populations remains good).