Implementation of Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation Of
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Implementation of Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and Wild Fauna and Flora and Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the Conservation of Wild Birds in Bulgaria through the Biological Diversity Act Comparative Analysis of the Scope with Reference to the European Ecological Network NATURA 2000 Implementation of Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and Wild Fauna and Flora and Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the Conservation of Wild Birds in Bulgaria through the Biological Diversity Act Comparative Analysis of the Scope with Reference to the European Ecological Network NATURA 2000 Issued by The World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), Danube – Carpathian Programme and Accession Initiative In partnership with BALKANI Wildlife Society Authors of the report Eng. Dobromira Dimova Ivan Hristov Rossen Tzonev Eng. Toma Belev 1 The authors wish to express their gratitude to Zdravko Hubenov, Senior Research Associate, for developing the invertebrate ani- mals distribution scheme, as well as to Prof. Elisaveta Bozhilova, Tchavdar Goussev, Research Associate, Vesska Roussakova, Senior Research Associate, Ass. Prof. Dolya Pavlova, Ass. Prof. Petar Zhelev, Dimitar Dimitrov, Senior Research Associate, Marius Dimitrov, Senior Assistant, Svetoslav Tcheshmedzhiev, Plamen Ivanov, and Deyan Duhalov for kindly providing informa- tion for the present analysis. Translation: Katya Ancheva Photo credits: Cover page 1 1. Stalyo Stalev – Big and Small Kamenitca peaks (Pirin mountain) 2. Anton Vorauer, WWF – Grass snake, Vardim oak 3. Ivan Hristov – Little bittern Cover page 4 Anton Vorauer, WWF – Danube river landscape, Black- headed gulls 2 Content Foreword 4 1. Conservation of the natural habitats 5 2. Conservation of the natural habitats of wild flora and fauna 7 3. Conclusions 8 4. Reccomendations for applying the provisions of Directive 92/43/ÖÖë regarding the conservation of natural habitats in Bulgaria 9 5. Reccomendations for applying the provisions of Directives 79/409/ÖÖë and 92/43/ÖÖë regarding the conservation of habitats of species in Bulgaria 10 List of Acronyms 11 Annexes Table ‹1 List of habitats potentially occuring in Bulgaria 12 Table ‹2 Habitat types fully corresponding to the Biological Diversity Act and the Directive 92/43/EEC 19 Table ‹3 Habitat types consisting a larger group in Annex I to Directive 92/43/EEC 21 Table ‹4 Habitat types consisting a smaller group in Annex I to Directive 92/43/ÖÖë 23 Table ‹5 Habitat types present in Annex I to Directive 92/43/EEC, potentially occuring in Bulgaria, but not listed in the Biological Diversity Act 24 Table ‹6 Habitat types listed in Annex I to the Biological Diversity Act, but not included in Directive 92/43/ÖÖë 25 Table ‹7 Habitat types, which do not occur in Bulgaria, but are included in the Biological Diversity Act 26 Table ‹8 Habitat types, listed in Directive 92/43/ÖÖë, which are omitted from the Biological Diversity Act 27 Table ‹9 Plant species included in the Annexes to the Biological Diversity Act and to Directive 92/43/ÖÖë 28 Table ‹10 Animal species (excl. birds) included in the Annexes to the Biological Diversity Act and to Directive 92/43/ÖÖë 29 Table ‹11 Species of birds included in the Annexes to the Biological Diversity Act and to Directive 79/409/EEC 35 3 Foreword Council Directive 92/43/ÖÖë on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora is a basic piece of legislation within the EU biological diversity conservation policy framework. It provides for the establishment of the European Ecological Network NATURA 2000 that includes areas of con- servation of natural habitats and of wild flora and fauna. Coacting with Council Directive 79/409/ÖÖë on the Conservation of Wild Birds, it provides for the European natural heritage conservation for future generations. The accession of Bulgaria to the European Union involves transposition of the European Directives into the national legislation. Regarding the nature con- servation and the implementation of the aforementioned Directives, this has been implemented through elaboration and adoption of the Biological Diversity Act, in force since 2002. The Act provides for the establishment of a National Ecological Network that is to include areas of conservation, pro- tected areas and buffer zones surrounding the protected areas. The areas of conservation are established with the purpose of conservation of natural habitat types included in Annex I to the Biological Diversity Act and of habitats of species listed in Annex II. This report presents the results of the expert analysis, elaborated to assess the extent to which both European Directives are completely and adequate- ly transposed in line with the country’s commitments for establishment of the European Ecological Network NATURA 2000, as well as the scope of the National Environmental Network as provided for in the Act. Aiming comprehensiveness, the report is structured into several sections – conservation of the natural habitats, conservation of the habitats of wild fauna and flora, conclusions and recommendations. In addition, 11 tables are appended to illus- trate the analysis and its conclusions, thus creating feasibility for comparison of the scope of both Directives and the Biological Diversity Act. We hope you find it useful. 4 1. Conservation of the natural habitats In the list of Annex I to the Biological Diversity Act are included 106 habitat types, which are a core element of the future National Ecological Network. These habitat types are identified according to the 1996 Classification of Palearctic Habitats. The codes of NATURA 2000 were not used in the Annex and therefore it is difficult to outline the scope of the Act in comparison with the scope of Council Directive 92/43/ÖÖë on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and of Wild Fauna and Flora. Further complications arise from the lack of a national system for classification of the habitats in Bulgaria and the lack of national mapping. Until now, generally applied for identifying the vegetation in the country has been the dominant method, and the definitions of a large number of basic habitat types have not been updated. In the process of developing the present analysis the authors have adhered to the Interpretation Manual of European Union Habitats (1999 edition), while using the correlation between the Classification of Palearctic Habitats and the NATURA 2000 Classification, and adopting the codes of NATURA 2000 as basic. To establish the correlation with the Biological Diversity Act, the authors have also interpreted the uniformity between the codes of NATURA 2000 and those of the Classification of Palearctic Habitats. The interpretation is presented in eight tables. Designed as a basis for the analysis, Table ‹1 provides a list of all types of natural habitats potentially occurring in Bulgaria, which are included in Annex 1 to Directive 92/43/ÖÖë. By the authors’ assessment, these natural habitat types are 78, few of them being disputable. In line with the EU Interpretation Manual, the four-digit code of NATURA 2000 was agreed basic, and the code of the Classification of Palearctic Habitats was also indicated in search of their relation and uniformity with Annex I of the Biological Diversity Act. As far as the codes and the definitions under the codes of the BDA and the Council Directive 92/43/ÖÖë are not fully overlapping, four of the tables have been designed to indicate the various links between the two documents. Summarized in Table ‹2 are the types of natural habitats that are fully corresponding to the Biological Diversity Act and to Directive 92/43/ÖÖë in terms of codes and definitions. These natural habitat types are 24 in total. For a considerable number of natural habitats, there is a slight difference between the codes of the Classification of Palearctic Habitats, included in the Classification of NATURA 2000, and the ones indicated in Annex I of the BDA. In this case, distinction is made by: a) habitat types consisting a larger group in Annex I of Directive 92/43/ÖÖë, and b) habitat types consisting a smaller group in the Directive in comparison to Annex I of the BDA. The first types of natural habitats are outlined in Table ‹3 to distinguish the correspondence between the larger group of habitats listed in Annex I of Directive 92/43/ÖÖë and the group of more detailedly itemized natural habitat types listed in Annex I of the BDA. The number of these habitat types listed in Annex I of Directive 92/43/ÖÖë is 21, corresponding to 38 habitat types of Annex I to the BDA. However, it has to be emphasized that apart from the 38 types listed in Annex I of the BDA, there are other natural habitat types in Bulgaria, which are included in the larger group of the Directive, but are not indicated in the BDA Annex. Since these habitat types are part of the types included in Annex I to Directive 92/43/ÖÖë, the authors consider their omission a shortfall of the legislative framework. 5 In the second case, where Annex I to the Biological Diversity Act comprises the larger group of natural habitats indexed by the Classification of Palearctic Habitats, the authors have explored their correlation with the smaller and more detailed groups of Annex I to Directive 92/43/ÖÖë. This is summarized in Table ‹4. Accordingly, 7 of the natural habitat types indicated in the Act correspond to 12 of the types listed in Annex I to Directive 92/43/ÖÖë. The authors believe it is necessary to review in detail the natural habitat types included in the Directive and to indicate the ones applicable for Bulgaria. However, the authors have outlined some of the groups (for example group 16.2 Dunes) comprising natural habitat types that are highly disputable and are not pretending of comprehensiveness.