The Habitats Directive In Its Eu Environmental Law Context

This book analyses the Habitats Directive; one of the most prominent piece of EU environmental legislation of the past decades. Seen by some as the cornerstone of Europe’s nature conservation policy, among other measures the Directive established the so-called "Natura 2000" ecological network, which covers more than 18% of the surface of the EU. However, despite the fact the Directive was adopted over twenty years ago only 17% of the protected habitats and species in Europe are being adequately protected while 10-60 % of animal species remain under threat. In light of the limited success and the contested nature of the Habitats Directive so far this book examines the successes and failures of the Habitats Directive from a legal and political angle. The book brings together international experts to consider the application, implementation and future of the Habitats Directive in order to assess whether the Habitats Directive is resilient enough to tackle biodiversity loss in the twenty- first century. Particular emphasis is put on the legal regime attached to the Natura 2000 network and its possible impact on land development and the relationship between the Habitats Directive and other topics including liability for ecological damage and transboundary nature conservation.

This comparative book explores the dynamics driving how courts across Europe and beyond understand and analyse scientific information in nature conservation. The Habitats and the Birds Directives-the core of EU nature conservation law-are usually seen as the most 'uniform' parts of EU environmental law. This book analyses the case law from 11 current and former EU Member States' courts and explores the dynamics of how, and crucially why, their understandings of scientific uncertainty on the one hand, and EU environmental principles on the other, vary. The courts' scope and depth of review, access to scientific knowledge, and scientific literacy all influence such decisions-as does their interpretation of norms and principles. How have the courts evaluated scientific evidence, encompassing its essential uncertainties? This book answers this and many more questions pertinent to EU environmental law, comparative environmental law, administrative law, and STS studies. Co-edited by experienced leaders in the field, and with outstanding contributors, this book is an essential guide to the dynamics of nature conservation law.

Energy and Environmental Law and Policy Series Despite the remarkable scope of EU conservation policy, and notwithstanding 30 years of relevant case law, nature in the EU continues to decline. This comprehensive book, focusing on the EU’s core legislation on nature, the Birds and Habitats Directives, presents a detailed summary and analysis of the two directives as interpreted by the Court of Justice of the European Union. The book’s systematic structure provides the crucial details of a large body of cases decided by the Court following legal actions taken by the European Commission or preliminary references submitted by national courts. It enables a clear procedural understanding of how nature cases are brought before the Court and how the Court approaches matters such as the burden of proof and the entitlement of environmental associations to litigate disputes. Among the salient areas of analysis are the following: the requirements for including sites within Natura 2000, the largest network of protected nature areas in the world; the obligations to conserve Natura 2000 sites and protect them from damage, including through procedural and substantive assessment requirements for plans and projects; requirements concerning unlawful or illegal activities; the strict protection requirements that apply to wild birds and other species, together with related derogation provisions; requirements to protect habitats in the wider countryside and interlinkages between the nature directives and directives on impact assessment, water, and environmental liability; challenges addressed or influenced by the Court, such as defects in Member State transposition, problems of monitoring and enforcing compliance, and dealing with harmful and benign subsidies; procedures used to bring cases to the Court, including direct actions by the Commission and preliminary references from national courts. According to the 2020 Global Risk Report of the World Economic Forum, biodiversity loss will be one of the biggest threats facing humanity in the next ten years. If nature is to have any hope of recovering and prospering, strict application of existing nature conservation rules is of utmost importance, especially as a recent evaluation shows that, although the EU nature directives are fit for purpose, implementation on the ground is lagging behind. By setting out the case law systematically and explaining what compliance with specific requirements entails, this book makes a signal contribution to nature conservation practice. Lawyers, policymakers, and NGOs working in the domain of nature conservation will greatly benefit.

This volume considers current and future challenges for nature law and policy in Europe. Following the Fitness Check evaluation of the Birds and Habitats Directives, in 2017 the EU adopted an Action Plan for nature, people and the economy to rapidly improve the Directives’ implementation and accelerate progress towards the EU's biodiversity targets for 2020. More recently, the EU has adopted a Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 and proposed an EU Nature Restoration Law. This book makes a timely contribution by examining the current state of play in light of recent and historical developments, as well as the post-2020 nature law and policy landscape. While evidence suggests that Natura 2000 and the Habitats and Birds Directives have delivered conservation benefits for wildlife in Europe, biodiversity loss continues apace. The book reviews the requirements for an effective international nature conservation system, with reference to the Birds and Habitats Directives. It examines regulatory regimes, current legal issues in the fields of site protection and species protection, the protection of areas outside Natura 2000, recent developments in the EU and the UK, including the implications of Brexit, agriculture and nature conservation, litigation, science and access to justice. Written by leading experts in the field, from a range of stakeholder groups, the volume draws on diverse experiences as well as providing interdisciplinary perspectives. This volume will be essential reading for students, scholars, practitioners, NGOs and policy-makers interested in European environmental policy and law, including for example lawyers, ecologists, environmental scientists, political scientists, natural resource managers, planners and civil servants.

Human activities are depleting ecosystems at an unprecedented rate. In spite of nature conservation efforts worldwide, many ecosystems including those critical for human well-being have been damaged or destroyed. States and citizens need a new vision of how humans can reconnect with the natural environment. With its focus on the long-term holistic recovery of ecosystems, ecological restoration has received increasing attention in the past decade from both scientists and policymakers. Research on the implications of ecological restoration for the law and law for ecological restoration has been largely overlooked. This is the first published book to examine comprehensively the relationship between international environmental law and ecological restoration. While international environmental law (IEL) has developed significantly as a discipline over the past four decades, this book enquires whether IEL can now assist states in making a strategic transition from not just protecting and maintaining the natural environment but also actively restoring it. Arguing that states have international duties to restore, this book offers reflections on the philosophical context of ecological restoration and the legal content of a duty to restore from an international law, European Union law and national law perspective. The book concludes with a discussion of several contemporary themes of interest to both lawyers and ecologists including the role of private actors, protected areas and climate change in ecological restoration.

Biodiversity within the European Union is under threat. Almost a quarter of Europe's vascular plant species and 155 species of its native mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians are threatened with extinction. The Habitats Directive imposes a strict regime for environmental protection. But with the euro zone economy falling from 'stagnation' to 'contraction' in the second quarter of 2012 and the UK entering into a 'double dip' recession in April 2012, European governments face an economic crisis. The English courts have said that the Directive should not become a property developer's obstacle course. Yet the tensions between environmental protection and economic growth are all too readily apparent with the UK government stating both that we must 'arrest the decline in habitats and species and the degradation of landscapes' and later that 'gold plating of EU rules on things like habitats' was putting 'ridiculous costs' on business enterprise. Edited by Gregory Jones QC, The Habitats Directive: A Developer's Obstacle Course? brings together a unique combination of leading academics and practitioners in the field of European environmental and planning law to address and debate controversial issues arising from the Habitats Directive in an authoritative and practical manner. A must for anyone engaged in property development, planning and environmental law.

The Natura 2000 network of protected areas is the centrepiece of European Union nature policy, currently covering almost one-fifth of the EU’s entire land territory plus large marine areas. This vast EU-wide network, which aims to conserve Europe’s most valuable and threatened species and habitats, has major impacts on land use throughout all Member States of the EU. This book critically assesses the origins and implementation of the Natura 2000 network, established under the Birds Directive of 1979 and the Habitats Directive of 1992. Based on original archival research and interviews with key participants, the book records a detailed history of the origins and negotiation of Natura 2000 policy and law, with the history of EU environmental policy provided as a framework. An historical institutionalist approach is adopted, which emphasises the importance of understanding legal and policy development as processes that unfold over time. Three phases in the history of EU environmental policy are identified and described, and the history of EU nature policy is placed within the context of these three phases. Informed by this history, the author presents a comprehensive summary and assessment of the law and policy that protects Natura 2000 sites at EU level, and reviews the nature conservation outcomes for the targeted species and habitats. The book reveals how a knowledge of the history of Natura 2000 enriches our understanding of key issues such as conflicts in establishing and conserving the Natura 2000 network, EU integration in the field of nature conservation, and the future of EU nature policy.

An accessible and comprehensive resource, EU Environmental Law and Policy explains the structure and logic of EU environmental law and enables readers to quickly gain a thorough understanding of the different areas of EU secondary law pertaining to the protection of the environment. This volume explores the institutional, constitutional, and historical premises for the adoption and application of substantive EU environmental law and further expounds upon the dynamics between EU Member States and the EU. The book additionally provides an introduction to the specific subject areas of EU environmental law through thematic chapters that analyse important topics such as climate and energy, water, and biological diversity. Each area is explained in detail, including a discussion of the specific features that characterize each area and an overview of the main legal acts and case law relevant to the particular area.