ABSTRACT
Biodiversity was heavily depleted in Europe before the establishment of the European Union (EU), due to the Industrial Revolution, unsustainable agricultural and fishing practices, economic growth and the wars of the twentieth century. Over the past four decades, European biodiversity policy has developed under the influence of internal drivers, including the broader development of European environmental and sustainable development policies, and international factors (notably the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD): Chapter 13). Currently, EU policy in the field of protected areas is reasonably strong, with the Natura 2000 network covering about 18 per cent of European territory. However, European biodiversity policies have not been sufficient to stop the loss of biodiversity within Europe. The EEA (2010) reported that only 17 per cent of 1182 species listed in the EU Habitats Directive, and 17 per cent of 216 European habitat types, were in ‘favourable’ conservation status.
