Assessment and Monitoring of Habitats Condition at the European Level

Pursuant to Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, Member States shall submit a report every six years on the implementation of measures adopted under this Directive, including the results of monitoring the status of habitats of European importance.

The objective of the project was to develop guidelines for assessing and monitoring the condition of habitats of European importance in accordance with Article 17 of the Habitats Directive. The goal was to improve the quality, quantity, comparability, and harmonization of assessments of the condition of habitats found in Member States across the EU. The project’s outputs support all 27 EU Member States in developing more harmonized and comparable assessments of habitat conditions as part of their reporting under Article 17.

Our experts played a significant role in their development—whether by leading the expert team, preparing methodological approaches, or drafting the guidance documents themselves.

All technical guidelines can be found here.

A summary and the methodology can be found here.

The technical guidelines for peatlands were prepared by Viera Šefferová Stanová, Executive Director of DAPHNE and a biodiversity specialist.

One of the three authors of the technical guidelines for forests was biodiversity specialist Pavol Polák from DAPHNE.

Photo: Linum flavum, Viera Šefferová Stanová