Strasbourg, 25 October 2013 T-PVS (2013) 17 [tpvs17e_2013.doc] CONVENTION ON THE CONSERVATION OF EUROPEAN WILDLIFE AND NATURAL HABITATS Group of Experts on the Conservation of Invertebrates Tirana, Albania 23-24 September 2013 ---ooOoo--- REPORT Document prepared by the Directorate of Democratic Governance This document will not be distributed at the meeting. Please bring this copy. Ce document ne sera plus distribué en réunion. Prière de vous munir de cet exemplaire. T-PVS (2013) 17 - 2 - CONTENTS 1. Meeting report ................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Appendix 1: Agenda .......................................................................................................................... 6 3. Appendix 2: List of participants ........................................................................................................ 9 4. Appendix 3: Compilation of National Reports .................................................................................. 10 5. Appendix 4: Draft Recommendation on threats by neurotoxic insecticides to pollinators ................ 75 * * * The Standing Committee is invited to: 1. Take note of the report of the meeting; 2. Thank the Albanian government for the efficient preparation of the meeting and the excellent hospitality; 3. Continue with Bern Convention engagement with invertebrate conservation issues by further encouraging and monitoring national implementation of European Strategy for the Conservation of Invertebrates; 4. Encourage and support awareness-raising and communication initiatives in invertebrate conservation strategies at national level; 5. Examine and, if appropriate, adopt the draft recommendation on the threats by neurotoxic insecticides to pollinators (appendix 4); 6. Take note of the activities proposed by the Group for its future work. - 3 - T-PVS (2013) 17 1. OPENING OF THE MEETING Prof. Pellumb Abeshi, General Director of Environmental Policies Ministry of Environment, Forest and Water Administration, welcomed the members of the Group of Experts on behalf of the Albanian environmental authorities. He stressed the country’s engagement to the biodiversity protection, illustrated by the adoption of laws on “Protected Areas” (2002), “Biodiversity protection” (2006), “Wild Fauna Protection” (2008) and “Hunting” (2010). The Chair of the Group of Experts, Ms Marian Ramos (Spain), welcomed participants (a list of which is included in Appendix 2) and opened the meeting. Participants introduced themselves, highlighting their work and experience in the conservation of invertebrates in their countries. 2. ADOPTION OF THE AGENDA The draft agenda was adopted as it appears in Appendix 1. 3. INTRODUCTION BY THE SECRETARIAT Mr Eladio Fernandez-Galiano recalled that the previous meeting of the Group of Experts took place in Norway in 2008. The present meeting follows the invitation by the Albanian government to host the Group of Experts five years later, and the meeting agenda reflects the changes occurred in the area of invertebrate conservation, namely as regards the threats to pollinators. Mr Fernandez-Galiano stressed that invertebrate conservation in Europe has been steadily gaining momentum over the last decade. Within the Bern Convention, 10 experts’ meetings have been held since 1989. Starting from 1997, the emphasis was put on the role of protected areas on strengthening habitat security and conservation. Networks of nature protection areas were established under both Habitats Directive (Natura 2000 network) and the Bern Convention (Emerald network) to ensure the long-term survival of Europe’s most valuable and threatened species – including invertebrates – and habitats. Mr Fernandez-Galiano highlighted that the Parties have to take responsibility for ensuring that conservation of invertebrates are part of national conservation strategies, and their place and the role in the global biodiversity and the ecosystem function needs to be further recognised and valued. 4. PROGRESS IN THE CONSERVATION OF INVERTEBRATES SINCE THE LAST MEETING (JUNE 2008) – NATIONAL REPORTS The delegates of Austria, Albania, Croatia, Czech Republic, Iceland, Netherlands, Poland, Serbia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and Ukraine presented their national reports. These national reports are presented in Appendix 3 to this document. The presentation of national reports illustrated that conservation of invertebrates continue to be focused on three main types of action including the work on habitats, species and better mobilisation of data and research on invertebrate species. Habitat actions: in most cases, the conservation of invertebrates have benefited from the establishment of increased number of protected areas, primarily due to the completion of the Natura 2000 and Emerald networks. Some reported actions included conservation and management measures for selected species or groups of invertebrates within protected areas, restoration of habitats and the assessment measures implemented within the framework of reporting on the status of listed habitats and species under the Article 17 of the Habitats Directive. Species actions: Some common points of particular relevance were the development and publication of red lists, red books, distribution studies, atlases, development and implementation of targeted actions for selected protected species (national action plans) or tailored support for the recovery and growth of most endangered populations. Mobilisation of data and research: Particularly optimistic progress was reported in increasing the knowledge and information on threatened and data deficient species to establish their population size, distribution and trends; recollecting of scattered information into national inventories and databanks; better taking into account data on invertebrates into the work on indicators; and building national taxonomic capacity. T-PVS (2013) 17 - 4 - 5. FOLLOW-UP OF RECOMMENDATION NO. 120 (2006) ON THE EUROPEAN STRATEGY FOR THE CONSERVATION OF INVERTEBRATES The Secretariat recalled that the Recommendation No. 120 (2006) encouraged governments to draw up and implement national strategies on invertebrate species, which justifies the need for the Group of Experts to exchange information on national policies put in place to assess and counter threats to invertebrates. Mr John Haslett gave a short presentation on the European Strategy for the Conservation of Invertebrates and recalled that raising awareness and changing human attitudes and behaviour remains one of the most important challenges for implementing the strategy. He stressed that despite the fundamental importance of invertebrates and the ecological services they provide, the need for invertebrate conservation is still little appreciated and more efforts are needed to raise the invertebrate profile in national conservations strategies. Mr Yves Gonseth (Switzerland) suggested that measuring impacts of invertebrate decline on national economies and analysing what is at stake if these impacts continue, can be a valuable tool in encouraging more decisive national policies. It was also argued that although it was important for the national decision-makers to recognize, demonstrate and capture the values of ecosystem services and biodiversity, the conservation of invertebrates should remain first of all a matter of shared values and that awareness-raising and environmental education are fundamental elements for implementing the European strategy for the conservation of invertebrates. Mr Jan Plesnik, Chairman of the Standing Committee, underlined that the EuropeanStrategy remains one of the key achievements under the Bern Convention and that there is a need to support and enhance its use at national level. All participants agreed that more efforts need be done to promote and publicise the Strategy at national level, and that the future work of the group should concentrate on that particular objective. 6. INVERTEBRATE DATABASES AND THEIR UPDATE The Secretariat briefly introduced the topic. Because of the high number of species and the relative scarcity of taxonomists, in some cases lack of updated information on the status of Europe’s invertebrates may lead to insufficient protection. The problem may become more important in the next decades when, as a result of climate change, distribution of many species experience radical change. Actually this is already happening, making some invertebrate groups indicators for climate change. Mr Yves Gonseth (Switzerland) pointed out that while taxonomic information is relatively good already – at least in some states and major groups – ecological data were still poor, so more efforts should be directed in that sense. The Chair noted that ecological and biological data had to be matched to know the potential future distribution of species as a result of climate change. Mr Jan Plesnik (Czech Republic) noted that for Natura 2000, information was gathered for species listed in the Appendices of the Directive (largely coincident with thus in the Convention). National databases are usually more robust. The Group encouraged states to keep gathering and sharing data, in co-operation with relevant scientific societies and conservation groups. 7. THREATS TO POLLINATORS FROM NEUROTOXIC INSECTICIDES (WITH DRAFT RECOMMENDATION) The Secretariat presented the draft recommendation on the threats by neurotoxic insecticides to pollinators. Delegates discussed the effects that new insecticides were