CONSERVATION OF NATURAL HABITATS AND SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA – CJEU CASE LAW
CONSERVATION OF NATURAL HABITATS AND SPECIES OF WILD FAUNA AND FLORA – CJEU CASE LAW

Summary/Abstract: Today, the major threats to the integrity of biodiversity are the direct result of human activities. Two decades ago, biologists identified the following as major threats: habitat loss and fragmentation; habitat degradation (including pollution); global climate change; overexploitation; invasive species; and disease diversification. Currently, at European level, threats to biodiversity include changes in land and sea use, overexploitation, climate change, pollution and invasive alien species. Studies have shown that, as a rule, threatened wildlife species face two or more threats that act cumulatively or in synergy, which, on the one hand, accelerates the process and, on the other hand, makes conservation efforts more difficult; the large scale and rapid proliferation of threats exceed the capacity for genetic adaptation to new conditions and the possibility of natural relocation of species to a friendlier environment. Paradoxically, in relation to the number of existing legal instruments at international, European and national levels, the reflection of major threats to terrestrial and aquatic wildlife in legislation proves to be uneven.

• Details
• Contents