The requirements of the Habitats Directive have implications
for common standards monitoring, particularly in relation to the
scope of conservation objectives and the concept of favourable
conservation status. These issues are equally pertinent to the
Birds Directive.
5.1 The scope of conservation objectives
In relation to common standards monitoring, the term
'conservation objective' has a clear definition: it defines the
favourable condition of an interest feature in terms of a set of
targets or target ranges. This is fundamental to site assessment
and management, and also serves reporting purposes. Although the
term 'conservation objective' is defined differently in other
situations (for example, Article 6.3 of the Habitats Directive),
for the purposes of Common Standards Monitoring the definition in
section 6.2 of this document should be used.
5.2 Favourable conservation status
Favourable Conservation Status is defined in Articles 1e and
1i of the Habitats Directive. However, whilst the UK nature
conservation agencies agree that the concept can be applied at a
variety of levels, there is ongoing debate as to the degree to
which favourable conservation status can be applied directly at the
site level. However, key elements which contribute to the
determination of Favourable Conservation Status can be applied to
sites.
For habitats, the elements of Favourable Conservation Status
which relate to extent, structure, function, and typical species
are used to provide guidance on attributes and targets. For
species, the elements of population dynamics, range, habitat extent
and quality are important.
Important elements which define Favourable Conservation Status
which need to be reflected in the assessment of feature condition,
are the 'long-term maintenance' and 'foreseeable future' criteria
incorporated in Articles 1e and 1i of the Habitats Directive. For a
feature to be assessed as being in favourable condition, the
ecological circumstances need to be such that there is a reasonable
expectation that the feature will be maintained in that condition
(ie not deteriorate) in the long- term.