TWENTY-SECOND REPORT
9 NOVEMBER
1999
By the Select Committee appointed to consider Community
proposals, whether in draft or otherwise, to obtain all necessary
information about them, and to make reports on those which, in
the opinion of the Committee, raise important questions of policy
or principle, and on other questions to which the Committee considers
that the special attention of the House should be drawn.
ORDERED TO
REPORT
Biodiversity in the European Union (Final Report):
International Issues
PART
1: THE BACKGROUND
INTRODUCTION
1. This is a sequel to our Interim Report[1]
of last July and deals with further matters concerning policy
on biodiversity in the European Union. The bulk of the evidence
to the inquiry has already been published with the Interim Report.[2]
Part 3 of this Final Report contains a summary of recommendations
from both Reports.
2. The immediate purpose of the Interim Report
was to draw attention to legislative measures which were urgently
needed, and indeed overdue, in order to put the United Kingdom
in a better position to meet its obligations under the Convention
on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the EC Directives on Birds[3]
and Habitats[4].
3. The background to this Report has already
been set out in Part 1 of the Interim Report. In particular,
readers may wish to remind themselves of the definition of
"biodiversity" (IR paragraph 4), the Convention
on Biological Diversity (paragraphs 5-6), the themes
and policy areas of the EC Biodiversity Strategy (paragraph 7),
the national Biodiversity Action Plans ("BAPs")
and the UK BAP (paragraphs 8-10), the Natura
2000 network of Sites of Community Importance (SCIs),
based on designation of Special Protection Areas (SPAs)
under the Birds Directive and Special Areas of Conservation
(SACs) under the Habitats Directive, and the process of review
of proposed Natura 2000 sites by Biogeographic Region, overseen
by the Commission, the European Environment Agency (EEA)[5]
and the European Topic Centre on Nature Conservation.
THE SCOPE
OF THIS REPORT
4. The UK has a particular interest in the Atlantic
Biogeographic Region, not only because the whole of the British
Isles falls into this region but also because of shared nature
conservation interests with neighbouring countries (Ireland, France,
Belgium, Netherlands, Germany and Denmark). A map of the biogeographic
regions is overleaf. Information on other regions of the European
Union is less complete (and less relevant to biodiversity in the
British Isles). Some information about the state of biodiversity
across the EU and progress with Natura 2000 can be had from the
evidence to this inquiry and from various publications produced
by, in particular, the European Commission (DG Environment),[6]
the EEA,[7]
the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB),[8]
BirdLife International,[9]
the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP)[10]and
WWF.[11] None of the
readily available information, however, provides a full picture;
it would require a research project to complete that. In that
respect we found that, in practice, it was not possible to do
justice to one of the main tasks we originally set ourselves (IR paragraph 3).
1 Biodiversity in the European Union (Interim Report):
United Kingdom Measures, 18th Report, 199899, HL 100. Back
2
All references in the present Final Report to material in the
Interim Report are prefaced by "IR"; references to this
Report are prefaced by "FR" where the context requires. Back
3
79/409/EEC: Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds, OJ L103,
25 April 1979. Back
4
92/43/EEC: Directive on the Conservation of Natural Habitats and
of Wild Fauna and Flora, OJ L206, 22 July 1992. Back
5
Although this term is also familiar as the acronym for the European
Economic Area, in the context of EC environmental policy it is
universally understood to mean the European Environment Agency. Back
6
Formerly known as Directorate General XI (DG XI); see note of
meeting at Appendix 5 and progress chart known as "Natura
Barometer", referred to in paragraph 48 of this Report. Back
7
For example, Environment in the European Union at the Turn
of the Century, EEA, Office for Official Publications of the
European Communities, Luxembourg, 1999. Back
8
IR pp 35-41. Back
9
IR pp 41-44; see also footnotes to paragraphs 29 and 44. Back
10
IR pp 68-73; QQ 142-148. Back
11
IR pp 1-7; FR Appendix 4 and pp 5866; Natura 2000: Opportunities
and Obstacles, WWF, Vienna, 1999. Back
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