One theme that should stand out from this blog is that protected areas are extremely important places! In the European Union, wildlife legislation – in the form of the Birds and Habitats Directives – has enabled real gains to be made for wildlife.
Yet wildlife in these protected areas, along with the rest of life on this planet, faces the unprecedented challenge of climate change. What will be the role of protected area networks in the face of wildlife populations responding to find their optimum climatic conditions?
Any strategy for the future must start from what we have today – and our protected areas are the best places for wildlife now. The Birds and Habitats Directives have, at their core, the ability to designate sites (forming the Natura 2000 network throughout the EU) – but the protected area stuff (though crucial) is just one part of the range of measures set out in the legislation.
Change is inevitable – and the response, both in terms of the management of protected areas and increasing their extent will build in resilience that will be crucial to the ability of species to adapt and survive. Habitat creation is a vital means of extending the area available to wildlife - our Wallasea Island Wild Coast project (pictured)is a good example of this approach in action.
We are convinced that the Birds and Habitat’s Directives, if interpreted correctly and fully implemented, provide further potential to ensure species and habitats have the best chances of adapting to climate change.
If you would like to read more about this topic, my colleagues Andrew Dodd, Alice Hardiman, Kate Jennings and Gwyn Williams have written ‘Protected Areas and Climate Change: Reflections from a Practitioners Perspective’ published in the Utrecht Law Review.