The Republic of Serbia, through the Ministry of Environmental Protection and the Institutes for Nature Conservation of Serbia and Vojvodina, has been working on identification and designation of the Natura 2000 network for several years now.
One of the main and important requirements that accession countries have to prepare in the Natura 2000 network, is a list of sites designated by each Member State in the framework of two European Directives: the Birds and the Habitats. The European Union Delegation of Serbia is supporting the Ministry of Environmental Protection and Institutes on this task.
The implemented project “EU for Natura 2000 in Serbia”, through five big results, has provided to the Republic of Serbia the first list of potential sites Natura 2000 (SPAs and SCIs) with an information data system, database and GIS for Natura 2000 developed, besides a harmonization of Serbian legislation with EU Directives related to nature protection. Also, the project has implemented several activities to strengthen the technical and administrative capacities through training seminars, workshops and different types of meetings and events, as well as to promote the importance of nature conservation with a two years communication and visibility strategy.
One of the most important steps of the implemented project and for future work, is the first list of potential SCIs and SPAs for Natura 2000 prepared by the EU for Natura 2000 in the Serbia project in the period 2019-2021. This list of sites is based on the Birds and Habitats Directives criteria concretised and agreed with Serbian experts responsible for their implementation in the Republic of Serbia.
Each potential site is justified by the presence of reference list habitats and/or species that fulfil the agreed criteria. The correct coverage of each species and habitat according to the requirements of the Directives has also been verified. However, all experts agree that more fieldwork and specific data on some species and habitats are necessary to confirm this information with greater certainty. The boundaries of potential Natura 2000 sites are delineated roughly according to the distribution of species and habitat types. Their exact specification will be completed later according to the cadastral parcels.