In 1992, was born Natura 2000 Networkan initiative of the European Union, to weave a mesh of protected natural spaces throughout the member countries that would stop the accelerated deterioration of European ecosystems. Thirty-four years later, this network now covers more than 18% of the land territory of the European Union and has become the largest coordinated system of nature protection in the world.
The design of Red Natura explicitly contemplates the coexistence between the protection of ecosystems and sustainable human activities, such as traditional agriculture, extensive livestock farming and forestry use. Conservation, in this model, is not understood as the absence of human beings, but as the intelligent management of their presence.
Two policies, one network
The network is articulated through two categories of spaceseach supported by a different European directive. Special Protection Areas for Birds (ZEPA) They emerged under the Birds Directive, specifically aimed at safeguarding the most vulnerable bird species and their migratory routes. Special Areas of Conservation (ZEC)for their part, are designated under the Habitats Directive, approved precisely in 1992, and their objective is to protect a list of natural habitats and species of flora and fauna considered priorities for European biodiversity. Together, these two categories make up the backbone of the Natura 2000 Network and define both the site selection criteria and the management obligations assumed by member states.
Within the network, Spain occupies a prominent place. It is the Member State with the largest area integrated into the Natura 2000 Network, with more than 27% of its terrestrial territory under one of the two protection figures. A proportion that reflects both the exceptional natural wealth of the Iberian Peninsula – recognized as one of the territories with the greatest biodiversity in Europe – and the commitment acquired by the country within the framework of community environmental policy.
European financing and local management
The financial sustainability of the network depends largely on community funds. The main financing instruments are the agricultural funds and the EU structural funds, often channeled through the LIFE Program, the specific instrument of the European Commission for the environment and climate action and seeks sustainable management with traditional agricultural, livestock and forestry activities. For decades, this program has financed habitat restoration projects, reintroduction of threatened species, training of managers and raising citizen awareness in online spaces.
Management, however, is the responsibility of each Member State, which in turn usually delegates to regional administrations. This generates considerable diversity in the way in which conservation criteria are applied on the ground, with uneven results depending on the territory.
An unfinished project
Natura 2000 Network is already a consolidated project, but not finished. The incorporation of new marine areas continues to be a pending issue, and experts point out that their real capacity to function as an interconnected system and not as a sum of isolated spaces, depends on territorial planning decisions that go far beyond the limits of the protected spaces.
What no one disputes is its importance. In a continent where urbanization, intensive agriculture and climate change put pressure on ecosystems from multiple fronts, Red Natura 2000 is a commitment that, thirty years after its creation, is still necessary.