Supervision and Evaluation of the Conservation Status of Terrestrial and Wetland Habitat Types of Community Interest in Greece

The project “Supervision and Evaluation of the Conservation Status of terrestrial and wetland habitat types of community interest in Greece” is part of a broader plan of the Ministry of Environment and Energy aiming to cover both European and national needs for the implementation of the Directives on Nature.

It is the continuation of the planning that started in 2014 with the implementation of the respective projects of Supervision and Evaluation of the conservation status on the basis of a national program with two central axes: a) the areas of the NATURA 2000 network in which Management Units have been established, b) the rest areas of the NATURA 2000 Network (about 70% of the area).

The object of this Service is:

• The completion of the primary database with the field data acquired in the two years 2014 – 2015, with field data from supervision tasks implemented by the Management Units (based on Law 4685/2020, former Protected Area Management Bodies) after 2014 and which they will implement until the end of this project and with data collected from the new fieldwork,
• the completion of the bibliographic database with any reliable data from the review of bibliographic sources,
• the updating of the fields of the database for the Natura 2000 network related to the objects of the Service, in accordance with the requirements and directives of the European Commission (i.e. updating specific tables of the SDFs),
• the evaluation of the methods and protocols to be used, after their implementation and their appropriate modification/adaptation for use in the next supervision cycle,
• reassessing the conservation status and spread of supervision objects at national and biogeographical level, and highlighting the root causes of any changes,
• the revision/updating of the Desired Reference Values of the objects of supervision, where required,
• the revision, updating and completion of the Conservation Objectives and the conservation priorities of habitat types and species, in each Natura 2000 area (or in each Special Area of Conservation/Site of Community Importance) in which they have a significant presence and is required. This concerns the objects of supervision of Annexes I and II of Directive 92/43/EEC.

More specifically, the objects of Service 2 are:

• The monitoring and evaluation of the degree and conservation status of: a) all habitats types of Annex I of the Directive 92/43/EEC (except marine) that respond to SCIs and SACs of the NATURA 2000 network of the country and/or spread and in other areas of the national space (including SPAs), and b) habitat types of national importance.
• The correction of the mapping and identification of habitat types, where it is found that there is a need, and the completion of the mapping in the expansion areas of the SACs and in the new SCIs, according to the assessment of the field observation.
• The updating of the database of the Natura 2000 Network in all fields related to the object of the habitat types
• The updating of bibliographic databases and primary field data in all fields related to the object of the habitat types
• The formulation of proposals for modifying the external boundaries of Natura areas or expanding the Network, where this is deemed necessary, based on EU criteria and after consultation with the Service that manages and monitors the contract.
• The formulation of a proposal for the “translation” of the Desired Reference Values into objectives for the conservation of habitat types at the local level, i.e. per SCI/SAC or group of SCI/SAC (existing and any new ones proposed), with the aim of achieving (or maintaining) of satisfactory status of conservation.
• The formulation of a comprehensive supervision proposal, including monitoring protocols and procedures, methodological approaches, sampling stations, frequencies, etc., for their implementation during the next period.

The contribution of the present work is summarized in the following:

• Fulfillment of obligations deriving from Directives 92/43/EEC & 2009/147/EC (avifauna supervision)
• Protection of Habitat Types and species
• Promotion of Preservation of supervision objects and Management of SACs/SCIs of Greece
• Facilitation of competent services in making decisions regarding planning, zoning and licensing of projects and activities
• Effective monitoring of Protected Areas and Biodiversity in the country

The implementation of the project is being undertaken by the association of companies “OikoM Ltd – OMIKRON SA”.