Wild Birds of Europe at Risk Despite Legal ProtectionsThe Commission, the executive arm of the 15 nation European Union, announced Tuesday that it is taking Portugal to the European Court of Justice and has issued Austria and Greece with final warnings, known legally as Reasoned Opinions.
The case against Portugal concerns its failure to protect the Campo Maior special protection area (SPA). SPAs are designated under the European Commission Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds. Campo Maior in eastern Portugal is important for a range of endangered wild bird species but is threatened by the Abrilongo dam and irrigation project.
The European Union is withholding funding for the project pending the outcome of the court case.
The decision against Austria concerns its failure to ensure nature conservation safeguards were applied to a golf course project in the Worschacher Moos SPA in the Enns Valley in the Austrian state of Styria. The site is home to the Crex crex or Corncrake, a globally endangered wild bird species.
The commission says Greek hunting laws do not respect the Wild Birds Directive. Greek legislation allows the hunting season to extend to February 28, which overlaps with the protected period for several wild bird species.
Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström urged all three countries to fulfill their obligations under the directive, which is the EU's oldest piece of nature conservation legislation. Passed in 1979, it was supposed to create a comprehensive scheme of protection for the European Community's wild bird species.
The directive recognizes hunting as a legitimate activity but tries to balance it with the long term interest of maintaining healthy and viable populations of species. That is why the directive requires that the hunting season should not include the periods of greatest vulnerability - migration, reproduction and dependence of young birds.
Tuesday's actions by the commission reflect its concern that more than 20 years after the adoption of the Wild Birds Directive, certain important bird areas remain undesignated or inadequately protected, thereby undermining efforts to safeguard Europe's biodiversity.
On June 28, France passed a new law on hunting wild birds. The law bans hunting one day a week and limits the hunting season to the period from August 10 to February 20.
In March, a petition presented to the European Parliament and signed by more than two million Europeans called for France to shorten its hunting season, which allowed bird hunting from mid-July to the end of February.
At seven and a half months, this was the longest hunting season in Europe. It resulted in some species being shot in July while still breeding and other species being killed in late February, during migration to breeding sites.