Wild Birds: Action plans

Action plans Annex I Bird species considered as "Priority for funding under LIFE"

Action plan per species

Introduction

Whereas there is no list of ‘priority’ bird species given in Annex I of the birds Directive the Ornis Committee has agreed a list of species which are considered as priority for the purpose of LIFE Nature funding. This includes all globally threatened species that regularly occur in the European Union.

Since 1993 the European Union has supported the development of action plans for priority birds. These plans have been prepared by BirdLife International. The work for waterfowl has been undertaken in partnership with Wetlands International.

The plans are intended as tools to identify priority measures for the conservation action to halt and restore the populations of Europe’s most endangered bird species. They provide information about status, ecology, threats and current conservation measures for each species. This enables the clear definition of priority objectives and a programme of prioritised actions for each species.

They are the result of an extensive process of consultation and, as far as possible, consensus between government agencies, NGOs and individual experts in Europe. As such they provide a valuable framework from which more detailed national and regional programmes can be developed and implemented. The completed plans have been examined and approved by the ORNIS Committee.

The plans should assist Member States in fulfilling their obligations under the Birds Directive. However, they are not legally binding documents nor do they engage the Member States beyond their existing legal commitments under this directive.

As all of the species concerned are ‘priority’ for funding under LIFE Nature the plans should help potential applicants focus on the most urgent and important actions for the different species. The Community has already supported LIFE Nature projects for most of these species.

For more details on projects see the LIFE Nature database.

List of priority bird species of Directive 2009/147/EC considered as "Priority for funding under LIFE"
as agreed by Ornis Committee

SAP Community species action plan prepared
BMS Community brief management statement prepared
NP No Community plan yet
* an international conservation plan has been prepared for this sub-species

All existing plans are available on this website

Action plan per species

2004 Review of implementation of plans (pdf 730KB)

2010 Review of implementation of plans (pdf ~2Mb) - Annexes (pdf ~695Kb)

International Action Plans

• White-headed Duck (pdf 2,76MB)
• Corncrake (pdf 2,52MB)
• Saker Falcon