Europe

The Iron Curtain, running from the Barents Sea to the Black Sea, divided Europe for almost 40 years and no activity was allowed in this "forbidden" zone. When it fell in 1989, it left a strip of land that runs the entire length of Europe and that has remained comparatively undisturbed – a green belt. The Green Belt initiative aims to integrate this entire strip of land with its key habitats and ecological areas as part of an international network of valuable ecosystems.

This plan sets out the policies and actions needed to ensure an adequate, effective and well-managed network of protected areas in Europe. It outlines how potential areas should be integrated with other sectors, such as agriculture, forestry and tourism; sets out priorities at European, sub-regional and national level; proposes actions to strengthen the legal framework, planning and management of Europe's protected areas, and explains how to create the public support necessary for success.

This plan sets out the policies and actions needed to ensure an adequate, effective and well-managed network of protected areas in Europe. It outlines how potential areas should be integrated with other sectors, such as agriculture, forestry and tourism; sets out priorities at European, sub-regional and national level; proposes actions to strengthen the legal framework, planning and management of Europe's protected areas, and explains how to create the public support necessary for success.

The latest IUCN Red List shows that a third of all amphibians, one in eight birds and a quarter of all mammals are under threat globally. Environmental action has to be taken collectively at the international level and the EU has taken a strategic approach across Europe, by implementing the Birds and Habitats Directives.

The IUCN system for classifying protected areas distinguishes six management categories (I-VI). This publication aims to further clarify how they can be interpreted within Europe, in order to help protected areas managers and others concerned with protected areas to apply the IUCN system more consistently to ensure reliable categorisation and data gathering

Four case studies of European protected areas are presented illustrating particular themes of management practice. The National Park of Abruzzo, Latium and Molise (Italy) serves as a model for zoning; the Bialowieza National Park (Poland) for monitoring; participatory management is exemplified in the Minorca Biosphere Reserve in Spain; and the Austrian Hohe Tauern National Park is a good example for visitor management.

Red Lists are valuable for informing species protection policy and are important as indicators as well as a tool for communication between all those involved in species protection. There are some 3,700 Red Lists in use across Europe, but the approach, aims and criteria used vary widely. A partial result of this is that Red List Species are rarely used for European ecological networks and play a modest role in the updating of the Wild Birds and Habitats directives.