This new Focus brochure, from the Directorate General Environment's LIFE Unit, examines the contribution that the LIFE-Nature programme has made to the integrated management of Natura 2000 sites. In this context, the term 'integrated management' is used to indicate the nature conservation of a site alongside the management of other activities or resources, such as for examples the management of agriculture, tourism or of the water resources. The publication is divided into three sections. Part one provides a summary of the key issues surrounding the EU Birds and Habitats directives linked to the Natura 2000 network. It provides a summary of the main guidelines and recommendations by Member States and illustrates national guidelines and manuals, prepared in France and Italy with LIFE-Nature projects. Part two contains examples of management plans that were produced during LIFE-Nature projects. Part three provides a list of the 428 LIFE-Nature projects that have included management plans, of which a considerable proportion deals with habitats and animal species.

"Article 6 of the "Habitats" Directive plays a crucial role in the management of the sites that make up the Natura 2000 Network. With the spirit of integration in mind, it indicates the various tasks involved so that the nature conservation interests of the sites can be safeguarded. Many questions have been raised about the significance of this article by Member States and operators. At first glance it seems to be broad and not well defined, but a thorough analysis, linking it with the other articles of the directive, makes it easier to understand and apply. Nevertheless, Article 6 should not be seen in isolation. In particular, if its application leads to specific requirements, it should be remembered that Article 8 envisages the co-financing of some of the measures necessary to meet the objectives of the directive"--Foreword.

Protected areas have become an increasingly important tool both in the conservation of biodiversity and in revenue generation through sustainable use. This is the only sure way to guarantee the protection necessary for many species, habitats and ecosystems in the future. Integrated Protected Area Management features contributions that consider the design, management and sustainable use of these regions. Three principal aspects are considered: the theory and practice of designation community-based conservation and the concept of sustainability identifying priorities for management. The emphasis throughout is on the importance of an interdisciplinary approach to planning and the active involvement of all stakeholders in decision-making processes as a means of ensuring long-term sustainability.

IUCN's Protected Areas Management Categories, which classify protected areas according to their management objectives, are today accepted as the benchmark for defining, recording, and classifying protected areas. They are recognized by international bodies such as the United Nations as well as many national governments. As a result, they are increasingly being incorporated into government legislation. These guidelines provide as much clarity as possible regarding the meaning and application of the Categories. They describe the definition of the Categories and discuss application in particular biomes and management approaches.

Natura 2000 is a European coherent network of areas to be protected for their ecological importance, established under the Habitats Directive (HD) and under the Birds Directive (BD); it is aimed at protecting biodiversity and especially habitats and species rare, valuable or threatened. With reference to the management of sites composing the network, article 6 of the HD requires that Member States 'establish the necessary conservation measures involving, if need be, appropriate management plans specifically designed for the sites or integrated into other development plans.' While conservation measures are compulsory, it is therefore up to each Member State to establish whether management plans are necessary and what form they will take. This paper analyzes the implementation of Natura 2000 in Sardinia (Italy), whose ecological network consists of 92 Sites of Community Importance (SCIs) and 37 Special Protection Areas (SPAs), accounting for nearly a 19% of the total land area of the island. In Italy management plans for Natura 2000 sites are not compulsory; however, following a call for proposals, in Sardinia 76 management plans concerning 87 SCIs were prepared by local administrations in compliance with both the 2002 national guidelines and the 2005 regional guidelines. As a result of the recent approval of 72 (as of February 2011) of these plans by the regional executive, approximately a 57% of the Sardinian ecological network is planned by means of management plans aimed at maintaining natural habitats or restoring them at a favourable conservation status. This raises a series of questions, two of which will be addressed in this paper by looking at specific case-studies. First, it is still unknown what role these plans will play in the Sardinian multi-level planning system; in fact, although municipalities have agreed to make their land-use plans compliant with management plans, this is a voluntary agreement and not a statutory requirement. Second, it is not yet clear how management plans will fit into the appropriate assessment of the implications of projects and plans (including land-use plans) for the site in question required by the HD.

Aquatic ecosystems are rich in biodiversity and home to a diverse array of species and habitats, providing a wide variety of benefits to human beings. Many of these valuable ecosystems are at risk of being irreversibly damaged by human activities and pressures, including pollution, contamination, invasive species, overfishing and climate change. Such pressures threaten the sustainability of these ecosystems, their provision of ecosystem services and ultimately human well-being. Ecosystem-based management (EBM) is now widely considered the most promising paradigm for balancing sustainable development and biodiversity protection, and various international strategies and conventions have championed the EBM cause and the inclusion of ecosystem services in decision-making. This open access book introduces the essential concepts and principles required to implement ecosystem-based management, detailing tools and techniques, and describing the application of these concepts and tools to a broad range of aquatic ecosystems, from the shores of Lough Erne in Northern Ireland to the estuaries of the US Pacific Northwest and the tropical Mekong Delta.