Endangered species in Europe

The next few years will be an important milestone in terms of whether we can move out of the current biodiversity and climate crisis and make a positive shift. The impacts of humanity on nature, however, are not only negative for the natural environment but also for other aspects of life, including human health and the social and economic spheres.

The Living Planet Index 2020 report showed that the population size of mammals, birds, fish, reptiles and amphibians declined by 68% on average between 1970 and 2016, compared to 60% in the 2018 report for the period 1970-2014. So the decline in the Living Planet Index has continued.

Based on Target 1 of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 at least 30% of the land and 30% of the sea should be protected in the EU, and at least one-third of protected areas – representing 10% of EU land and 10% of EU sea – should be strictly protected. Within this, there should be a specific focus on areas of very high biodiversity value or potential.

In order to meet the above target, criteria and guidance of the European Commission for protected area designation states that Member States should be taking into consideration those species, among others, included in the European red list and additionally in national or regional red lists, which require the establishment of additional protected areas.

The combination of increasing the extent of protected areas (PA) and other effective area-based conservation measures (OECM) must be able to maintain biodiversity and prevent further extinction of species.

Where we are now?

A new study conducted a gap analysis in the EU using the Natura 2000 network, nationally protected areas (NPAs) and the combination of both (PAs), to assess the coverage of the ranges of threatened resident species assessed in the IUCN Red List (including vertebrate, invertebrate, and plant species), aiming to identify the expansion of protected areas where have a largest additional value to protect Europe's biodiversity.

From the 2290 threatened species (critically endangered CR, endangered E and vulnerable VU) for land snails and vertebrates the majority of species (˃90%) have been assessed, for the other taxonomic group the assessment are not comprehensive. Since the distribution and population size of species within their range is uneven, it may increase the bias of assessment.

The main results of this study were:

• Natura 2000 sites cover on average 34.0 % (SPAs 28.7 % and SACs 36.4 %), NPAs 41.5 % and PAs 49.6 % of the ranges of threatened resident species in the EU.
• The ranges of the 947 threatened species endemic to the EU are covered by Natura 2000 on average at 48.9 %, NPAs at 42.4 % and PAs at 58.8 %.
• The number of Gap0.1 species (˂0,1% of their EU ranges covered by protected areas) is 121, 211 and 71 in the case of Natura 2000 sites, NPAs and PAs respectively. From 71 (3.1 %) threatened resident species 44 are endemic to the EU.
• The majority of the 71 Gap0.1 species are invertebrates and plants.
• The majority of EU Gap0.1 species, 49 out of 71, are found in the southern EU countries and particularly concentrated in islands.
• The ranges of the threatened freshwater species in the EU have significantly lower coverage (40.7 %) by PAs, than the terrestrial species (52.1 %).

You can read more on the topic here.