Creating the Natura 2000 network
The proceedings of a recent European Commission conference on the management of human activities on protected areas across the EU, which form part of the Natura 2000 network, have recently been published by the European Commission, DG XI. The conference was held in Bath, United Kingdom, from 28 to 30 June 1998 and heard speeches from a range of European and national policy-makers including the EU Environment Commissioner, Mrs Ritt Bjerregaard, and the Agriculture Commissioner, Mr Franz Fischler, as well as Mr James Currie, Director-General of the European Commission, DG XI. The objective of the conference was to encourage cooperation and understanding, by bringing together representatives of European, national and local actors, who are concerned with the creation of the Natura 2000 network. This was in order to prevent further delays in the implementation of the network and to address issues related to this delay. One reason for the delay has been the resistance of local people who are concerned that their social and economic interests might be threatened by the designation of a site. The publication contains the keynote speeches and summaries of the presentations delivered during the conference, as well as an outline of the preliminary conclusions. In addition the publication devotes a series of chapters to the workshops held during the conference which addressed the problems of managing certain socio-economic activities on Natura 2000 sites and the mechanisms for delivering solutions. These are dealt with under the following headings: - Tourism; - Hunting for game species; - Agriculture; - Forestry; - Management plans involving local actors; - Communications involving local actors; - Managing change on Natura 2000 sites; - Financing management of Natura 2000 sites.