ce006c55-f3e8-43c7-a991-5543a33b8d65 Natura 2000 Member States of the European Union SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics Chiara Bortoluzzi Data Manager chiara.bortoluzzi@sib.swiss https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6589-6635 2025-02-21 English Natura 2000 is an ecological network of protected areas, set up to ensure the survival of Europe's most valuable species and habitats. Natura 2000 is based on the 1979 Birds Directive and the 1992 Habitats Directive. Natura 2000 is the key instrument to protect biodiversity in the European Union. The European database of Natura 2000 sites consists of a compilation of the data submitted by the Member States of the European Union and is generally updated once a year. Land use EEA topics Biodiversity EEA topics Protected sites GEMET - INSPIRE themes, version 1.0 European Spatial scope Directive 2009/147/EC INSPIRE priority data set Directive 92/43/EEC INSPIRE priority data set Natura 2000 sites (Birds Directive) INSPIRE priority data set Natura 2000 sites (Habitats Directive) INSPIRE priority data set This data is provided for general information purposes only. Only the data possessed by the competent authorities of the Member States is authentic. Therefore, no rights or legal claims can be derived from the data displayed on this site. Creative Commons CC-BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Natura 2000 (tabular) - version end 2023 https://sdi.eea.europa.eu/webdav/datastore/public/eea_t_natura2000_p_2023_v01_r00/ Natura 2000 (vector) - version end 2023 https://sdi.eea.europa.eu/data/be2142b0-7dc4-42e3-afac-f7cc5f1a9ac6 Europe -39.771119 52.272062 67.355724 27.572276 2023-01-01 2023-12-31 European Environment Agency Custodian | Point of contact sdi@eea.europa.eu The descriptive data in the European database are based on the information that national authorities have submitted, for each of the Natura 2000 sites, through a site-specific standard data form (SDF). In addition to other site-specific information, the standard data form provides the list of all species and habitat types for which a site is officially designated. The spatial data outlines the boundaries of sites as submitted by Member States. The data submitted by each Member State are validated by the European Environment Agency (EEA). Any problems identified through the validation procedures in the national datasets are brought to the attention of the Member States concerned. However, it remains up to the Member States to decide whether to submit a revised dataset before the European database is updated. The EEA therefore cannot guarantee that all inconsistencies detected in national datasets are removed in the European dataset. The database contains for each site the version proposed by the Member States and approved by the European Commission. The validation process is reflected in the updates of the the biogeographical Union Lists of Sites of Community Importance (SCIs).