The Confederation of European Forest Owners (CEPF) welcomes the REFIT process and acknowledges the Birds and Habitats Directives as important tools for enhancing the natural heritage in Europe. Nevertheless, 23 years after the introduction of Natura 2000 it is the shared experience of Europe’s private forest owners that there are still significant gaps hampering their successful implementation.
19.11.2015
Therefore CEPF calls for
- a transparent, coherent and consistent implementation of the nature legislation across the EU;
- good governance acknowledging property and ownership rights, as well as the time lag for measures aimed at enhancing biodiversity;
- ensuring the involvement of concerned landowners, managers and their organisations at all stages of the designation, implementation and management of the Natura 2000 network;
- an adaptation of the Annexes of the Directives, sustaining an appropriate long-term perspective, and catering for more flexible and viable solutions to implementing the EU nature legislation.
For further details, please refer to the CEPF position paper below.
As part of the fitness check of the EU Birds- and Habitats Directives, the European Commission is hosting a high-level conference on Friday, 20 November 2015, to present and discuss with Member States and other stakeholders the preliminary conclusions emerging from the assessment of evidence and information gathered.
