L I F E I I I LIFE and endangered plants Conserving Europe’s threatened flora colours C/M/Y/K 32/49/79/21 European Commission Environment Directorate-General LIFE (“The Financial Instrument for the Environment”) is a programme launched by the European Commission and coordinated by the Environment Directorate-General (LIFE Unit - E.4). The contents of the publication “LIFE and endangered plants: Conserving Europe’s threatened flora” do not necessarily reflect the opinions of the institutions of the European Union. Authors: João Pedro Silva (Technical expert), Justin Toland, Wendy Jones, Jon Eldridge, Edward Thorpe, Maylis Campbell, Eamon O’Hara (Astrale GEIE-AEIDL, Communications Team Coordinator). Managing Editor: Philip Owen, European Commission, Environment DG, LIFE Unit – BU-9, 02/1, 200 rue de la Loi, B-1049 Brussels. LIFE Focus series coordination: Simon Goss (LIFE Communications Coordinator), Evelyne Jussiant (DG Environment Communications Coordinator). The following people also worked on this issue: Piotr Grzesikowski, Juan Pérez Lorenzo, Frank Vassen, Karin Zaunberger, Aixa Sopeña, Georgia Valaoras, Lubos Halada, Mikko Tira, Michele Lischi, Chloé Weeger, Katerina Raftopoulou. Production: Monique Braem. Graphic design: Daniel Renders, Anita Cortés (Astrale GEIE-AEIDL). Acknowledgements: Thanks to all LIFE project beneficiaries who contributed comments, photos and other useful material for this report. Photos: Unless otherwise specified; photos are from the respective projects. This issue of LIFE Focus is published in English with a print-run of 5,000 copies and is also available online. Attention version papier ajouter Europe Direct is a service to help you find answers to your questions about the European Union. New freephone number: 00 800 6 7 8 9 10 11 Additional information on the European Union is available on the Internet. It can be accessed through the Europa server (http://europa.eu). Luxembourg: Office for Official Publications of the European Communities, 2007 ISBN 978-92-79-08815-5 ISSN 1725-5619 doi: 10.2779/9929710.2779/99297 © European Communities, 2008 Reproduction is authorised provided the source is acknowledged. Printed in Belgium Ecolabel Flower Printed on recycled paper that has been awarded the EU Ecolabel for graphic paper (http://ec.europa.eu/ecolabel/) LIFE Focus I LIFE and Europe’s endangered plants I p. 1 Patrick Murphy Plants are vital to almost every aspect of our daily lives. They provide us with food, fibres, medicines, fuel, shelter, clothing and the air we breathe. Many animal species are also directly dependent on plants for their survival. Plants are essential constituents of ecosystems and play a key role in the Earth’s system. Europe is blessed with a high rate of diversity, but, despite their undeniable importance, plants everywhere are under threat. Some 21% of Europe’s vascular plant species (flowering plants, conifers and ferns) are classified as threatened according to the IUCN. Half of the continent’s 4,700 vascular plant endemics are in danger of extinc- tion and 64 have already become extinct. In a number of European countries more than two-thirds of the existing plant habitats types are endangered. Major land-use changes from agriculture and forestry, habitat destruction, fragmentation and degradation, direct impacts by economic activities and invasive alien species are all rapidly eroding our plant communities. Climate change will further aggravate these pressures. LIFE, the financial instrument for the environment, has been a cornerstone of plant conservation efforts, especially within the boundaries of the Natura 2000 network. In total, from 1992-2007 some 970 projects received EU co-funding under the LIFE-Nature component of the LIFE programme. Although only 33 of these projects directly targeted the conservation of plants listed under the annexes of the Habitats Directive, a far greater number of projects targeted plant conservation within a broader context – for example, under habitat actions, Natura 2000 network site management plans, or more general actions. This brochure explores the challenges for conservation of Europe’s endangered plants and highlights the role of the LIFE programme in helping to halt biodiversity loss, and to restore threatened habitats and natural systems. From Romania to northern Finland, France’s Seine Valley to Spain’s Sierra Nevada mountains, the Mediterranean to Macaronesia, LIFE has supported a range of successful projects, helping to restore habitats and protecting endangered plants. LIFE has also helped to promote a new concept – the plant micro-reserve (PMR) – first developed in the Spanish region of Valencia, and since successfully implemented in Slovenia and the island of Crete (see pp. 17-22). Now, LIFE+, with a budget of over €2 billion, will continue to offer robust support to the conservation of plant species and of biodiversity in general across Europe. Preventing the disappearance of so many species of plants is one of the major challenges that must be addressed in order to achieve the goal of halting the loss of Europe’s biodiversity. Patrick Murphy Head of Unit – Nature & Biodiversity European Commission, DG Environment Background to Europe’s Plant micro-reserves: Restoration of wild plants ................... 3 from concept to habitats ...................... 37 implementation .............. 17 European wild plants: Austria: Lake Constance status and threats ............. 3 Greece: Conservation forget-me-not flourishes of endangered flora on in Bregenz once more European biodiversity Crete .............................. 20 thanks to LIFE-Nature ... 38 policy and plant Germany: Protecting and conservation .................... 5 Mediterranean flora ... 23 developing the Benningen LIFE’s contribution to Cyprus: Conservation of Marsh ............................ 41 EU plant conservation .... 7 unique flora and Romania: Conserving habitats .......................... 24 forest habitats, preventing Endangered plants in soil erosion and guarding general ......................... 9 Italy: Conserving the ‘critically endangered’ against avalanches ........ 42 Finland: Stakeholder Sicilian fir and helping to Czech Republic: Preserving participation in managing ensure its long-term the beauty and biodiversity endangered plant survival .......................... 27 of the Moravian Karst .... 45 populations ..................... 10 Spain: Protecting Further projects France: Saving two extraordinary biodiversity focusing on wetlands .. 46 Norman plants ................ 12 in the Sierra Nevada ...... 30 List of available LIFE Germany: Grassland publications ................... 49 protection in Bavaria ..... 14 Macaronesian flora .... 31 Spain: Conserving five Portugal: Managing and priority species in preserving Asphodelus the Canary Islands ......... 32 bento-rainhae ................. 16 Portugal: Restoring Madeira’s laurel forest ... 34 Background to Europe’s wild plants LIFE Focus I LIFE and Europe’s endangered plants I p. 3 European wild plants: status and threats The disappearance and declining populations of many endangered plant species presents the European Union with one of its greatest conservation challenges. Efforts have focused on habitat loss and degradation, introductions of invasive alien species, pollution and disease, and climate change. Europe’s varied geography and cli- mate provides a vast range of habitats that support more than 12,500 vascu- lar plants (flowering plants, conifers and ferns). Centres of particularly high plant diversity include the moun- tainous areas around the Mediterra- nean and the Black Sea. The floras of Spain, Greece, Italy, Bulgaria and Romania support the highest num- bers of both endemic and endangered plant species. Europe’s flora is one of the best known in the world and has been shaped by human interventions for many hun- dreds of years. However, the acceler- ated pace of industrialisation in recent decades, together with major land-use changes, has resulted in European J.B.Madeira – LIFE99 NAT/P/006431 Photo: R.Jardim, plants today being considered among Convolvulus massonii: highly threatened by habitat loss the most threatened in the world. According to the World Conservation Threats that by the year 2032, more than 70% Union (IUCN), some 21% of Europe’s of the land’s surface will have been vascular plant species are classified as The main factors that have contrib- destroyed or disturbed. Habitat loss threatened and half of the continent’s uted to the progressive decline of is also a problem because it leads to 4,700 vascular plant endemics are in European plant diversity are: the fragmentation of the remaining danger of extinction. In a number of habitat resulting in further isolation of European countries more than two- Habitat loss and degradation plant populations. thirds of the existing plant habitat Habitat loss is the primary cause of types are endangered. species loss at local, regional and glo- Introductions of Invasive Alien bal scales. Urban development, over- Species (IAS) Wild plants in Europe are under severe drafting of groundwater, road building, Aliens are not science fiction, but a threat, and significant losses of plant recreation, forest fires, agriculture and nature conservation fact. An “alien” is species and habitat have taken place. tree logging all destroy and degrade any species that is moved by humans Although being a subject of concern, plant’s natural habitats. It is estimated to an area outside of its native range. In plant conservation tends to receive