Protected Areas and World Heritage Programme

1997 United Nations List of Protected Areas

European Commission Directive on the Conservation
of Wild Birds (79/409/EEC) (Birds Directive, 1979)
(up to December 1996)

The Birds Directive was in force since April 1981 and imposes legal obligations on European Union Member States to maintain populations of naturally occurring wild birds at levels corresponding to ecological requirements, to regulate trade in birds, to limit hunting of species able to sustain exploitation, and to prohibit certain methods of capture and killing. Article 4 requires Member States to take special measures to conserve the habitat of certain listed threatened bird species as well as migratory bird species, particularly with regard to wetlands, through the designation of Special Protection Areas (SPAs). A total of 1,470 SPAs have been established, of which those larger than 1,000ha are listed below. All SPAs form part of NATURA 2000, the EU network of protected areas.