Protected areas today cover a relatively large part
of Europe, with almost 21 % of the territory of
EEA member countries and cooperating countries
consisting of protected areas. In spite of this
widespread presence of protected areas in all
European countries, the topic has not received as
much attention on a pan-European level as other
environmental issues.
The report provides a comprehensive overview of the current
state of protected areas and aims to assist policymakers
and the wider public in understanding the complexity
of the current systems of protected areas.
This report is especially timely, as 2012 marks the
20th anniversaries of the Convention on Biological
Diversity and of the EU Habitats Directive. Both of
these legal instruments consider protected areas to
be key tools in the maintenance and restoration of
biodiversity and ecosystems.
There is a section on marine protected areas.
Please click here to download the report:
http://www.eea.europa.eu/publications/protected-areas-in-europe-2012