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.
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.
At EU level, only 27 % of species assessments have a good conservation status, with 63 % having a poor or bad conservation status. Only 6 % of all species have improving trends. Reptiles and vascular plants have the highest proportion of good conservation status. The EU did not meet its 2020 target to improve the conservation status of EU protected species and habitats. At Member State level, a large proportion of assessments show few species with a good conservation status. Agriculture, urban sprawl, forestry and pollution are the pressures on species reported most.
The area and number of terrestrial protected areas in Europe have grown steadily over time, with the biggest increases in recent decades. In 2020, protected areas covered 26 % of EU land, with 18 % designated as Natura 2000 sites and 8 % as other national designations. In the EEA-38 countries plus the United Kingdom, this coverage is lower and amounts to 23 %.
Further expansion of terrestrial protected areas will be needed to achieve the target of legally protecting a minimum of 30 % of EU land, as set out in the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030. The designation of protected areas is not in itself a guarantee of biodiversity conservation. Effective management requires building a coherent and well-connected network of protected areas with clearly defined conservation objectives and measures.
At the EU level, only 15 % of habitat assessments have a good conservation status, with 81 % having poor or bad conservation status. Grasslands, dunes, and bog, mire and fen habitats show strong deteriorating trends, while forests have the most improving trends.
The EU is not on track to meet the 2020 target of improving the conservation status of EU protected species and habitats. At the EU Member State level, the majority of assessments indicate a low number of habitats with a good conservation status. Intensive agriculture, urban sprawl and pollution are the top reported pressures to habitats.
Monitoring vegetation response to water deficit due to droughts is necessary to be able to introduce effective measures to increase the resilience of ecosystems in line with the EU’s nature restoration plan — a key element of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030. Between 2000 and 2016, Europe was affected by severe droughts, causing average yearly vegetation productivity losses covering around 121 000 km 2 . This was particularly notable in 2003, when drought affected most parts of Europe, covering an estimated 330 000 km 2 of forests, non-irrigated arable land and pastures. Drought impact was also relatively severe in 2005 and 2012.
Since the adoption of the Habitats Directive in 1992 and the creation of the Natura 2000 network, the cumulative area of the network has steadily increased in EU Member States. In 2019, the network covered an area of 1 358 125 km 2 , encompassing nine biogeographical regions.
The coverage of terrestrial Natura 2000 areas was 784 994 km 2 in 2019, which is 18 % of the EU’s land area. This is more than the global biodiversity target for protected areas, which aims to conserve at least 17 % of terrestrial and inland water areas by 2020 (Aichi Target 11).
The coverage of ecosystem classes under the EU 'Mapping and Assessment of Ecosystems and their Services' (MAES) framework was affected by change processes between 2006 and 2012, with urbanisation the most dominant process. Urban ecosystems showed the highest net increase both in the EU-28 and in the EEA-39 countries, predominantly at the expense of cropland and grassland.
A very slight increase in coverage was observed in forest and woodland, while agricultural ecosystems, both cropland and grassland, continued to decrease.
Vulnerable ecosystems such as heathland and sparsely vegetated land (dunes, beaches, sand plains, bare rocks and glaciers) continued to disappear between 2006 and 2012, although the loss of wetlands seems to have levelled off for the first time over the same period. It should be borne in mind, however, that approximately two thirds of European wetlands were lost before the 1990s and their area has subsequently continued to decrease.
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