Data centre overview

Natura 2000 is the key instrument to protect biodiversity in the European Union. It is an ecological network of protected areas, set up to ensure the survival of Europe's most valuable species and habitats. Natura 2000 is based on the 1979 Birds Directive and the 1992 Habitats Directive. This version covers the reporting in 2020.

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As a main source of protein, commercial fish stocks and other commercial sea products are renewable resources, which could sustain human needs in the long term — if exploited in an appropriate manner. Although further improvements are still necessary, the analysis of long time series shows clear and important signs of improvement in the North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea. At least 24-47 % of all stocks meet at least one of two criteria defining the Marine Strategy Framework Directive's 'good environmental status' (GES) in the regions respectively. Meeting these criteria means that the exploitation (i.e. fishing mortality, F) and reproductive capacity of the stocks are compatible with their maximum sustainable yield (MSY). While slightly less than half of all stocks in the region have adequate assessments allowing comparisons with at least one of the GES criteria (83% of these met at least one criterion), these assessed stocks account for approximately 75% of the landings in the NEA and Baltic Sea. Since the early 2000s, better management of fish and shellfish fisheries has contributed to a clear decrease in fishing pressure in these two regional seas, with the average fishing mortality close to F MSY  in 2018. This has led to signs of recovery in the reproductive capacity of several fish and shellfish stocks. If these efforts continue, fishing mortality in the region on average should remain near F MSY  and reproductive capacity should continue to improve towards the objective for healthy fish and shellfish stocks in the North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea. In contrast, in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea the situation remains critical.  Only six out of 70 stocks (8.6 %) in the Mediterranean Sea and none of the 7 stocks in the Black Sea meet at least one of the GES criteria in these regions. This is mainly due to the prevalence of overfishing and a significant lack of knowledge of the reproductive capacity state of fish and shellfish stocks. Most of the stocks considered in the Mediterranean Sea had adequate assessment to compare fishing mortality with the GES criterion, but few had measures or thresholds of reproductive capacity. In the Black Sea, five of the seven stocks had adequate assessments to evaluate fishing mortality but only one of these also had measures or thresholds for reproductive capacity. It is unlikely that the 2020 policy objective has been met in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Given this context, the 2020 objective of having healthy commercial fish and shellfish populations is unlikely to have been met in Europe’s seas and further collective action is required.

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This figure shows the state of the assessed commercially exploited fish and shellfish stocks per EU marine region, for which assessments were conducted in 2015-2019 (not all stocks have annual assessments). Majority of data is from 2018.

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This figure shows the 2018 landings of commercially exploited fish and shellfish stocks per EU marine region, and the proportions of landings for which stock assessments were conducted in 2015-2019 (not all stocks have annual assessments). See the related Excel File for extra details.

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Climate change has increased forest fire risk across Europe. Even so, the burnt area of the Mediterranean region has decreased slightly since 1980, indicating that fire control efforts have been effective. However, in recent years, forest fires have affected regions in central and northern Europe not typically prone to fires, and, in 2018, more countries suffered large fires than ever before, coinciding with record droughts and heatwaves. An expansion of fire-prone areas and longer fire seasons are projected in most European regions, so additional adaptation measures are needed.

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The European inventory of nationally designated protected areas holds information about designated areas and their designation types, which directly or indirectly create protected areas. This is version 19 and covers data reported until March 2021.

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The figure shows the conservation status of habitats at Member State level. Statistics are based on the number of habitat assessments at Member States′ biogeographical/marine level. The number of assessments per Member State is indicated in parentheses. The total number of assessments is 3 246.

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The figure shows the conservation status of habitats at EU level. Statistics are based on the number of EU habitats assessments (818)

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New technology and tools are opening up new possibilities for environmental monitoring and analysis. For example, citizen science, satellite observations, big data and artificial intelligence present opportunities for improving the timeliness, comparability, granularity and integration of data.

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The map shows the temporal development of the distribution of warm-favouring (Lusitanian) fish species and of cool-favouring (Boreal) fish species by statistical area in yearly intervals, 1967 to 2018.

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For visualisation purposes, the initial 100 m spatial resolution Corine Land Cover dataset was re-sampled to a 10 km2 grid. The observation periods can be visualised by activating the 'layers' icon and selecting the respective periods.

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New technology and tools are opening up new possibilities for environmental monitoring and analysis. For example, citizen science, satellite observations, big data and artificial intelligence present opportunities for improving the timeliness, comparability, granularity and integration of data.

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Soil plays a crucial role in nature’s cycles, including the nutrient cycle, which involves how much soil organic matter — i.e. carbon, nitrogen and phosphorus — is taken up and stored in soil. Organic compounds, such as leaves and root tips, are broken down to simpler compounds by organisms living in soil before they can be used by plants. Some soil bacteria convert atmospheric nitrogen into mineral nitrogen, which is essential for plant growth. Fertilisers introduce nitrogen and phosphates to induce plant growth but not all amounts are taken up by plants. The excess can enter rivers and lakes and affect life in these water ecosystems.

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As a main source of protein, commercial fish stocks and other commercial sea products are renewable resources, which could sustain human needs in the long term — if exploited in an appropriate manner. Although further improvements are still necessary, the analysis of long time series shows clear and important signs of improvement in the North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea. At least 24-47 % of all stocks meet at least one of two criteria defining the Marine Strategy Framework Directive's 'good environmental status' (GES) in the regions respectively. Meeting these criteria means that the exploitation (i.e. fishing mortality, F) and reproductive capacity of the stocks are compatible with their maximum sustainable yield (MSY). While slightly less than half of all stocks in the region have adequate assessments allowing comparisons with at least one of the GES criteria (83% of these met at least one criterion), these assessed stocks account for approximately 75% of the landings in the NEA and Baltic Sea. Since the early 2000s, better management of fish and shellfish fisheries has contributed to a clear decrease in fishing pressure in these two regional seas, with the average fishing mortality close to F MSY  in 2018. This has led to signs of recovery in the reproductive capacity of several fish and shellfish stocks. If these efforts continue, fishing mortality in the region on average should remain near F MSY  and reproductive capacity should continue to improve towards the objective for healthy fish and shellfish stocks in the North-East Atlantic Ocean and Baltic Sea. In contrast, in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea the situation remains critical.  Only six out of 70 stocks (8.6 %) in the Mediterranean Sea and none of the 7 stocks in the Black Sea meet at least one of the GES criteria in these regions. This is mainly due to the prevalence of overfishing and a significant lack of knowledge of the reproductive capacity state of fish and shellfish stocks. Most of the stocks considered in the Mediterranean Sea had adequate assessment to compare fishing mortality with the GES criterion, but few had measures or thresholds of reproductive capacity. In the Black Sea, five of the seven stocks had adequate assessments to evaluate fishing mortality but only one of these also had measures or thresholds for reproductive capacity. It is unlikely that the 2020 policy objective has been met in the Mediterranean and Black Seas. Given this context, the 2020 objective of having healthy commercial fish and shellfish populations is unlikely to have been met in Europe’s seas and further collective action is required.

Read more

Climate change has increased forest fire risk across Europe. Even so, the burnt area of the Mediterranean region has decreased slightly since 1980, indicating that fire control efforts have been effective. However, in recent years, forest fires have affected regions in central and northern Europe not typically prone to fires, and, in 2018, more countries suffered large fires than ever before, coinciding with record droughts and heatwaves. An expansion of fire-prone areas and longer fire seasons are projected in most European regions, so additional adaptation measures are needed.

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Birds and butterflies are sensitive to environmental change and can indicate the health of the environment. Long-term monitoring shows significant declines in farmland birds and grassland butterflies. Between 1990 and 2019, the index of 168 common birds decreased by 8% in the 25 EU Member States with monitoring schemes. The decline in common farmland birds over the same period was much more pronounced at 27%, while the common forest bird index increased by 5%. Between 1991 and 2018 the grassland butterfly index also declined strongly, by 25%, in the 19 EU countries with monitoring data.

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Common bird index shows the population trends of farmland, forest and all common bird species

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The map shows the temporal development of the distribution of warm-favouring (Lusitanian) fish species and of cool-favouring (Boreal) fish species by statistical area in yearly intervals, 1967 to 2018.

Read more

For visualisation purposes, the initial 100 m spatial resolution Corine Land Cover dataset was re-sampled to a 10 km2 grid. The observation periods can be visualised by activating the 'layers' icon and selecting the respective periods.

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This web map application uses the new version of the Effective Mesh Density (seff) 2016 dataset with improved input data, for the years 2009, 2012 and 2015. This new dataset uses the Copernicus Imperviousness and the TomTom TeleAtlas data sets as fragmenting geometries. The application shows the change in effective mesh density (seff), i.e. the number of landscape elements between 2009 and 2012 and between 2012 and 2015.

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This figure shows the 2018 landings of commercially exploited fish and shellfish stocks per EU marine region, and the proportions of landings for which stock assessments were conducted in 2015-2019 (not all stocks have annual assessments). See the related Excel File for extra details.

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This figure shows the state of the assessed commercially exploited fish and shellfish stocks per EU marine region, for which assessments were conducted in 2015-2019 (not all stocks have annual assessments). Majority of data is from 2018.

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The maps show the long-term average soil moisture contents (left) and the trends in soil moisture values (right), aggregated by NUTS3 regions. Soil moisture is equal to 0 when the soil is severely dry (wilting point) and equal to 1 when the soil moisture is above the field capacity. Low long-term average soil moisture values indicate areas where during the 2000-2019 period the soil moisture deficit was the biggest problem. Trends are expressed in standard deviation from the long term average. Negative trends indicate that soil moisture values show a decreasing tendency during the 2000-2019 period. Areas with lower soil moisture content together with decreasing tendency in the soil moisture are in risk of loosing their land functions of supplying ecosystem services. See also: https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/data-viewers/soil-moisture and Original dataset: https://edo.jrc.ec.europa.eu/documents/factsheets/factsheet_soilmoisture.pdf

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The figure shows the conservation status of habitats at Member State level. Statistics are based on the number of habitat assessments at Member States′ biogeographical/marine level. The number of assessments per Member State is indicated in parentheses. The total number of assessments is 3 246.

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The figure shows the conservation status of habitats at EU level. Statistics are based on the number of EU habitats assessments (818)

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The figure shows the rate of growth in the number and cumulative area of nationally designated terrestrial protected areas. Statistics are based on data reported by EEA countries to the Nationally designated areas (CDDA) database.

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