The total area of nationally-designated protected areas in Europe (1) has increased over time. The total area of nationally designated sites in 39 European countries was more than 1 million square kilometres in 2009. In Eastern Europe, Caucasus and Central Asia (EECCA countries), the area of nationally designated sites is at least 1.5 million square kilometres. 1.2 million square kilometres can be added to the area in the EECCA countries, the information about the year of the designation is missing, however (2).
This quantitative information needs to be complemented by a qualitative assessment of the efficiency and the representativeness of the network of designated areas including good management practices.
A "Nationally designated area" is an area designated by a national designation instrument based on national legislation. If a country has included in its legislation the sites designated under the EU Birds and Habitats directive, the Natura 2000 sites of this country are included in the figure.
For 39 European countries, there is 0,037 km2 of additional designated areas but without any information of designation year. For the EECCA countries, for 25 % of sites included in the database, no size information is available.
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Nationally designated protected areas