Natura 2000 network

Natura 2000 is a network of protected areas established by all EU Member States under uniform principles. The establishment of Natura 2000 is obligatory under the two most important EU regulations concerning nature protection: Council Directive 79/409/EEC on the conservation of wild birds (“Birds Directive”), and Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora (“Habitats Directive”). The purpose of the network is to guarantee protection of those animal and plant species and habitat types that are the most valuable, threatened, rare or restricted to a certain area in the European context.

The Natura 2000 network consists of two types of protected areas: Special Protection Areas and Special Areas of Conservation. There are so far 39 Special Protection Areas in the Czech Republic. They were declared by Government Regulations in 2004-2005, and most recently in 2007. The Special Areas of Conservation have been summed in the so-called National List, which was approved by the Government as a whole and published as Government Regulation no. 132/2005 Coll., now amended by Regulation no. 301/2007 Coll.

The National List is divided into two parts according to the biogeographic zones present in the Czech Republic: Pannonian (covering most of South Moravian Region and a part of Zlín Region), and Continental (96 % of the Czech Republic’s territory).