Birds Directive (Direttive 79/409/CEE), concerning the « Conservation of wild birds », adopted by the Council of the European Community on the 2nd of April 1979, constitutes a fundamental tool for the accomplishment of the objective, established by the Member States in 2001 at Göteborg, of halting the loss of biodiversity before 2010.

The Directive, by considering that the decline of the present populations of wild birds in the E.U. territory constitutes a danger for the environment and a threat to biological balance, aims at (art.1) the protection, management and control of these species, as well as at the regulation of their exploitation. It is applied to birds, their eggs, nests and habitats.

Some of the species to whose protection the.E.U. environmental policy contributes(Carte © Photodisk and European Commission; Source: DG Environment Publications - the 25 years of Birds directive).

Member States have to (Art. 2 et 3) preserve, maintain or re-establish the biotopes and habitats of these birds through the :

- Creation of protected areas;

- Upkeep and management in accordance with the ecological needs of habitats inside and outside the protected zones;

- Re-establishment of destroyed biotopes;

- Creation of biotopes.



The objective of the Directive (Art.4) concerns the creation of a network of Special Protection Areas (SPA), identified by the member States, by adopting special protection measures for the habitats of certain bird species reported in the directive (Annexe I) and of the migratory species (with particular attention to the protection of wetlands and wetlands of international importance).


The Directive establishes a general system of protection for all bird species. The following are particularly prohibited:

• deliberate killing or capture by any method of bird species referred to in the directive. However, hunting of certain species is authorized, provided that the hunting methods respect some basic principles (reasonable and balanced use, no hunting during periods of migration or reproduction, prohibition of methods of large-scale or non-selective killing or capture);
• deliberate destruction of, or damage to, their nests and eggs or removal of their nests;
• deliberate disturbance of these birds;
• keeping birds.


The keeping and sale of some bird species included in Annex IIIis possible, according to the national legislation in force.

With some exceptions, especially for species that are hunted, the Directive prophibits the sale, transport for sale, keeping for sale and the offering for sale of live or dead birds and of any readily recognizable parts or derivatives of such birds.


Member States may derogate from the provisions of the Directive only for specific reasons. The Commission takes appropriate steps to ensure that the consequences of these derogations are not incompatible with the Directive.

Member States should encourage research and any work required as a basis for the protection, management and use of all species referred to in the Directive.

Map showing an overview of the Special Protection Areas (Juin 2005); ( left) SPA in continental Europe, (right, above) SPA in the Macaronesian region. More than half of these sites, as a whole or in part, have been designated as Sites of Community Importance (SIC) according to the Habitats Directive. Source: :European Topic Centre on Biological Diversity (ETC/BD)

Constituted by more than 4.200 sites, which cover a total surface of 380.000 km2, the Network comprises a large variety of different habitats, designated as SPA on the basis of the European inventory of IBA. Wetlands are the most commonly represented, as well as forests, heaths, meadows, maritime areas; cultivated rural areas represent only 8%. Although the provisions of the Directive are not yet fully accomplished, good results in terms of species protection are already visible. According to a recent study of Bird Life International, the percentage of species included in Annex I that were found to have a satisfactory conservation status has increased from 18% to 26% within ten years; the benefit is more important if we consider that the general situation of wild birds continues to decline (for further information:Birds in the European Union: a status assessment ).

At present, thanks to the recent enlargement of the European Union and the changes in the rural policy of the EU, we have the opportunity to improve the integration between bird conservation demands and rural land uses. However, there still remain many things to be done in order to achieve the objective of halting biodiversity loss before 2010, and it is essential that the Birds Directive and its corresponding implementation be brought to the centre of debate within wider context.

For Botaurus stellaris, as for several other birds, site protection represents the main way of protection. At the beginning of the 80’s, the populations (of birds) in the wetlands were declining, but today, thanks to the procedure of SPA designation, most of these is stabilized and some populations show a slight tendency to increase. (Photo –to the left: Botaurus stellaris © Giacomo Mazzuoli ; to the right: Lake Gurrida (Randazzo, Italia) (© 2005 Pietro Pavone - DBUC).

For further information on Birds Directive: :