Conserving habitats

Maintaining integrity of natural habitat

Description

Conserving habitats involves protecting, restoring, and managing natural environments to maintain biodiversity and ecosystem services. This strategy focuses on preventing habitat loss and degradation by establishing protected areas, enforcing land-use regulations, and promoting sustainable resource use. Practical actions include habitat restoration, controlling invasive species, and supporting community-based conservation. These measures directly address threats such as deforestation, pollution, and urban expansion, ensuring the survival of species and the resilience of ecological systems.

Context

Under the provisions of the EU Habitats Directive, conservation means a series of measures required to maintain or restore the natural habitats and the populations of species of wild fauna and flora at a favourable status. In the case of habitats, habitats of concern are: (a) are in danger of disappearance in their natural range; or (b) have a small natural range following their regression or by reason of their intrinsically restricted area; or (c) present outstanding examples of typical characteristics of one or more of the five following biogeographical regions: Alpine, Atlantic, Continental, Macronesian and Mediterranean.

The Principle of ecological integrity holds that the ecological processes responsible for the survival of species should be protected and the habitats on which their survival depends maintained (Principle 6 of the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy).