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Valuable Forests At Risk From Government Inaction

Brussels, Belgium, 7 November 1997

EU member states are jeopardizing the last remnants of high-value natural forests in Europe by failing to implement the Habitats Directive, Europe's pivotal law for nature conservation, WWF-World Wide Fund for Nature said today.

Europe has lost 62% of the forests which originally covered the continent. Although tree cover in Europe has expanded again over the last decades, the biological diversity of forests is diminishing. Short-term forest exploitation is replacing highly structured forests having a rich diversity of flora and fauna by monotonous plantations with one tree species only. Forests are being fragmented into ever smaller pieces by road construction and tourism infrastructure. Overgrazing, unnatural forest fires, air pollution and other threats add to the loss of forest quality.

WWF has selected '100 Forest Hotspots', particularly valuable forests all over Europe that are in urgent need for protection or restoration, in order to call for more pressing action.

The EU's powerful law for achieving higher levels of forest protection is the Habitats Directive which was adopted in 1992. The law requires the conservation of endangered species and habitats and establishes the network for nature known as NATURA 2000.

"EU governments must protect the last remnants of valuable nature in their own territory before it is too late", says Stefan Leiner, WWF's European forest policy officer. "This means they must respect EU law by taking the Habitats Directive seriously. WWF will act as a watchdog to ensure member states live up to their commitment. One first test will be whether they include their share of the 100 hotspots in the Natura 2000 lists of areas to be protected."

WWF has been monitoring the transposition into national law and the implementation of the Habitats Directive in every member state since 1995. The European Commission is pursuing eight member states for non- or incorrect transposition of the Directive into national law, and 36 infringement procedures are pending against all member states for inadequate implementation. - ends -

CONTACTS: Martin Hiller, WWF European Policy Office, Tel +32 2 743 8806


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