EU birds Directive Annex I νs national bird protection interests: legislative impact on bird conservation in Latvia

• Main Authors: Opermanis, O., University of Latvia, Salaspils (Latvia). Inst. of Biology. Lab. of Ornithology, Racinskis, E., Latvian Ornithological Society, Riga (Latvia), Aunins, A., Latvian Fund for Nature, Riga (Latvia)
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Published: Riga (Latvia) Academic Press of the University of Latvia 2008
• Subjects: BIRDS; CONSERVACION DE LA NATURALEZA; CONSERVATION DE LA NATURE; EUROPEAN UNION; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_12103; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_16141; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_34779; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_4253; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_5092; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_6513; http://www.fao.org/aos/agrovoc#c_935; INVESTIGACION; LATVIA; LEGISLACION; LEGISLATION; LETONIA; LETTONIE; NATURE CONSERVATION; NATURE RESERVES; OISEAU; PAJAROS; RECHERCHE; RESERVAS NATURALES; RESERVE NATURELLE; UNION EUROPEA; UNION EUROPEENNE
• ISBN: 9789984825328; 9984825329

In 2004, as a part of European Union's Natura 2000 programme, Latvia substantially increased its network of protected areas which now includes 336 sites and reaching approximately 11.9% of the national territory. This included the establishment of 69 new protected areas and the enlargement of 38 existing sites. However, criticism from the Latvian scientific community is still heard because new sites and site extensions were based on the presence of species listed in the annexes of the European Union Birds and Habitats Directives, many of them relatively common in Latvia, while several rare species were not used as site selection criteria. Users of natural resources also complain that protected territories are too many large as sites were also designated for common and wide spread species that already have favourable conservation status. We analysed bird data from the Latvian Natura 2000 sites and concluded that site selection based on the Birds Directive Annex I species has equally contributed to protection of national priority species, not included in the Birds Directive Annex I. In the meantime, we identified other potential problems that may affect species protection: the lack of knowledge on bird species ecology, the lack of appropriate management of protected areas and high number of species requiring protection outside the Natura 2000 sites. An extension of the Biosphere Reserve network outside Natura 2000 is suggested as a solution for the latter problem.