The Department of Environment (DoE) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment (MARDaE), partner of the Interreg Euro-MED Community4Nature project, hosted the 4th Mediterranean Natura 2000 biogeographical seminar, which took place on 17-19 April in Larnaca, Cyprus.
The seminar brought together about 90 representatives of national and regional nature conservation authorities from the Mediterranean Biogeographical region (Croatia, Cyprus, France, Greece, Italy, Malta, Portugal and Spain), the Commission services and the European Environment Agency, as well as NGOs, stakeholders and science representatives.
The discussions focused on topics linked to the implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives, with a special attention on issues related to the management of Natura 2000.
The first day of the seminar was dedicated to presenting, discussing and reviewing the EU Biodiversity Strategy-related pledges for protected areas and status improvement for the Mediterranean Biogeographical Region.
The themes discussed during the following days of the Seminar concerned:
- Strictly protected areas in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030
- Site-specific conservation objectives
- Favourable Conservation Status/Favourable reference values
- Natura 2000 management effectiveness
An additional activity took place during the first evening of the event (17th of April), a knowledge market, where about 30 projects from all the countries participating were represented and offered the opportunity to the participants to exchange knowledge and experiences. During this event, the Natural Heritage Mission was promoted among several other projects dealing with nature conservation in the Mediterranean region. Professionals involved in management of Natura 2000, policy implementation, monitoring, reporting or research participated in the event.
