Recoge: 1.Mires in the European Union - 2.EU conservation legislation - 3.Threats encourted - 4.Projects funded under LIFE-Nature - 5.Restoring the domage - 6.Managing sites for conservations - 7.Safegarding Pristine mires -8.Winnig local support.

The European continent features an impressive variety of mires and peatlands. Polygon, palsa, and aapa mires, concentric and eccentric bogs, spring and percolation fens, coastal marshes, blanket bogs, saline fens, acid, alkaline, nutrient poor, nutrient rich: the peatlands of Europe represent unique ecosystem biodiversity and harbour a large treasure of flora and fauna typical of peat forming environments. Europe is also the continent with the longest history, the highest intensity, and the largest variety of peatland use, and as a consequence it has the highest proportion of degraded peatlands worldwide. Peatland science and technology developed in parallel to exploitation and it is therefore not surprising that almost all modern peatland terms and concepts originated and matured in Europe. Their massive degradation also kindled the desire to protect these beautiful landscapes, full of peculiar wildlife. In recent decades attention has widened to include additional vital ecosystem services that natural and restored peatlands provide. Already the first scientific book on peatlands (Schoockius 1658) contained a chapter on restoration. Yet, only now there is a rising awareness of the necessity to conserve and restore mires and peatlands in order to avoid adverse environmental and economic effects. This book provides - for the first time in history - a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of mires and peatlands in biogeographic Europe. Written by 134 authors, the book describes mire and peatland types, terms, extent, distribution, use, conservation, and restoration individually for each country and integrated for the entire continent. Complemented by a multitude of maps and photographs, the book offers an impressive and colourful journey, full of surprising historical context and fascinating details, while appreciating the core principles and unifying concepts of mire science.

The Rio Summit has pointed to the urgency for the development of an international conservation policy; and the post-Maastricht debates in Europe have highlighted the need for the EU to reassess structural funding in nature conservation, as well as the influences on policy and practice. This book is a 'route map' through the legislative and policy frameworks and explains how conservation works in Europe. It goes through the policies for nature conservation in the European Community and its constituent member states and sets out the mechanisms for delivering this policy. An understanding of the European legislative framework is now vital as its influence on local practice increases. Practitioners in the fields of countryside conservation and general land management will find the book an essential guide to the working of the EU, as well as helping an appreciation of their local role within the wider community objectives. This will, for example allow a better understanding of the grant system which many managers are now using.

"Protected areas today cover a relatively large part of Europe, with almost 21% of the territory of EEA member countries and cooperating countries consisting of protected areas. In spite of this widespread presence of protected areas in all European countries, the topic has not received as much attention on a pan-European level as other environmental issues. We hope this report from the EEA--the first we have compiled on the subject--will go some way to redressing the balance. The report provides a comprehensive overview of the current state of protected areas and aims to assist policymakers and the wider public in understanding the complexity of the current systems of protected areas. This report is especially timely, as 2012 marks the 20th anniversaries of the Convention on Biological Diversity and of the EU Habitats Directive. Both of these legal instruments consider protected areas to be key tools in the maintenance and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystems. For the purposes of this report, a 'protected area' is any site with defined boundaries classified or designated by countries under legislation primarily aiming at nature conservation i.e. at the protection, management and restoration of species, habitats and ecosystems. A protected area can thus be any area of sea, lakes, rivers or land that has been identified as important for the conservation of nature, and managed for this purpose. It is important to recognise that protected areas differ greatly in the extent to which they limit human activity within their boundaries. Some protected areas allow industry, extensive agriculture or fishing to occur within their boundaries, while others prohibit all of these activities. The term is thus very broad in its application. The report covers all 32 countries that are members of the EEA--27 European Union Member States, Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Switzerland and Turkey--as well as the seven cooperating countries--Albania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Montenegro, Serbia and Kosovo under the UN Security Council Resolution 1244/99. The overseas protected areas of European countries are not considered in this report."--Publisher's description.

Bogs are fascinating landscapes for ecologists, climatologists, archaeologists, environmental historians and water managers. But many bogs have been damaged, and legislative protection - as 29 case studies demonstrate - is not enough to conserve the rest.