What is Natura 2000?

Special areas for the conservation of fauna, flora and habitats.

A golden eagle soars over the plateaus of the Julian Alps. A pair of birds of prey will take care of their brood on the northern edge of the Mežakla Plateau. The eagle knows no national borders, and neither do other animals and plants. The endangered raptor lives in a Natura 2000 site.

Europe's biodiversity is declining. The loss of traditional human activities is also changing the cultural landscape, for example, through the disappearance of floodplain forests and wet meadows. To halt and reverse the trend of species extinction, the European Union has set up the Natura 2000 network of sites.

Natura 2000 is a European network of special protection areas designated by the Member States of the European Union. The main objective of the pan-European network is to preserve biodiversity for future generations. Special Protection Areas are designed to conserve species of flora and fauna and habitats that are rare or threatened at European level by human activity.

Europe's Natura 2000 network is made up of more than 27,000 sites. In Slovenia, there are 354 sites, covering almost 37% of the country's territory. Almost all nature parks overlap with Natura 2000.

Together, they protect more than 1.000 rare and endangered plant and animal species and 200 habitat types. Biodiversity conservation is the cornerstone of sustainable development.

More about Natura 2000:

HERE