In 1979, the European Community adopted
Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds
(PDF 209KB) (the 'Birds Directive'), in response to the 1979 Bern
Convention on the conservation of
European
habitats and species (the 'Bern Convention'). The annexes were
amended by the Environment Chapter of the
Treaty of Accession 2003.The Directive provides a framework for
the conservation and management of, and human interactions with,
wild birds in Europe. It sets broad objectives for a wide range of
activities, although the precise legal mechanisms for their
achievement are at the discretion of each Member State (in the UK
delivery is via several different statutes). The Directive applies
to the UK and to its overseas territory of Gibraltar.
The main provisions of the Directive include:
- The maintenance of the favourable conservation status of all
wild bird species across their distributional range (Article 2)
with the encouragement of various activities to that end (Article
3).
- The identification and classification of Special Protection
Areas for rare or vulnerable species listed in Annex I of the
Directive, as well as for all regularly occurring migratory
species, paying particular attention to the protection of wetlands
of international importance (Article 4). (Together with Special
Areas of Conservation (SACs) designated under the Habitats
Directive, SPAs form a network of pan-European protected areas
known as Natura 2000 .)
- The establishment of a general scheme of protection for all
wild birds (Article 5).
- Restrictions on the sale and keeping of wild birds (Article
6).
- Specification of the conditions under which hunting and
falconry can be undertaken (Article 7). (Huntable species are
listed on Annex II.1 and Annex II.2 of the
Directive).
- Prohibition of large-scale non-selective means of bird killing
(Article 8).
- Procedures under which Member States may derogate from the
provisions of Articles 5-8 (Article 9) — that is, the conditions
under which permission may be given for otherwise prohibited
activities.
- Encouragement of certain forms of relevant research (Article
10).
- Requirements to ensure that introduction of non-native birds do
not threatened other biodiversity (Article 11).
A very wide range of other statutory and non-statutory
activities also support the Bird Directive's implementation in the
UK. This includes
national bird monitoring schemes , bird conservation research,
and the
UK Biodiversity Action Plan which
involves action for a number of bird species and the habitats which
support them.
It is generally UK policy that areas classified as SPAs are
first notified as Sites of Special Scientific Interest (or as Areas
of Special Scientific Interest in Northern Ireland) as this
provides the legal underpinning for SPAs in domestic legislation.
However, a few SPAs, for example some designated for
Corncrakes in Scotland (PDF 33KB), are
not notified as SSSI, and SSSI notification is not applicable to
marine areas. In these cases, positive management is promoted by
wider countryside measures, while protection relies on the
provisions of the Habitats Regulations.
Summary details of classified
SPAs in the UK are available.
The Directive has facilitated much co-operative conservation
action across the European Union. Many initiatives have increased
understanding of conservation needs, including the development of
international action plans for the most
threatened species (including for the UK, bittern, white-tailed
eagle, corncrake, aquatic warbler and Scottish crossbill). Recent
years have seen the development of the
Ornis database, a
major review of the timing of migration and breeding of quarry
species listed under Article II of the Directive, as well as a
range of guidance on hunting issues.
JNCC acts a technical advisor to Defra regarding the UK's
implementation of the Birds Directive, and co-ordinates relevant
actions across the country agencies. A major task was the
co-ordination of the UK's review of
Special Protection Areas,
published in 2001.