Work due 01 Jan 2099

SUGGESTIONS FOR IMPROVEMENT Most options to improve the indicator would probably either require amendments to the Habitats Directive (e.g. reporting cycle) or postulate the enlargement of the EU (e.g. geographical coverage). Thus, major improvements do not seem realisable in the short term. However, in order to improve the options for the interpretation of the data submitted by the Member States on the EU-scale, further guidance on monitoring, data collection and assessment is highly desirable. In addition, future improvements should strive at the integration of bird data, as soon as respective monitoring schemes (under the Birds Directive) are in place. Moreover, it could be further investigated if data collected on the Emerald Network ( http://www.coe.int/t/dg4/cultureheritage/nature/EcoNetworks/Default_en.asp ) can also be used to improve the indicator.