Natura 2000 – ES saugomų teritorijų tinklas ; Natura 2000 - network of protected sites in the European Union

Abstract

Biodiversity is increasingly recognised as an inestimable element of our heritage. The protection of rare and endagered species and habitats was the purpose of the Natura 2000 ecological network, established by Directive 92/43/EEC. The network also embraces areas established under Directive 79/409/EEC. Article 6 of the Directive 92/43/EEC sets out provisions which govern the conservation and management of Natura 2000 sites, i. e. it determines the relationship between conservation and land use. That is why this article is often considered as one of the most important of all 24 articles of the Directive 92/43/EEC. Taking this into account, the author of this paper analyses the content of proactive, preventive and procedural requirements set out in the article 6 of the Directive 92/43/EEC, she also discusses the main problems of implementation of these requirement into Lithuanian legislation and the problems of applying these requirements in practice. The author emphasises the importance of the duty to ensure that national legislation intended to transpose article 6 of the Directive 92/43/EEC is clear and precise enough and gives examples from national legislation, which show, that this duty is not fulfilled properly.