TVLInk Europe, 50 years of protecting Europe's environment

Protecting the tree of Life

Europe is the most urbanised continent in the world, a fact that, alongside unsustainable farming practices and over fishing, has taken an enormous toll on Europe’s nature. Since the 1970s, the EU has been working to protect nature, implementing key directives to preserve threatened and vulnerable species and habitats.

With the pace and scope of modern lifestyles putting ever greater pressure on nature, the EU set up the Natura 2000 network. This expanding network of protected nature sites is a crucial element within the EU’s objective of halting the decline of biodiversity by 2010.

This detailed news report looks at the history of the EU’s activities and policies within the arena of nature conservation and biodiversity, from the Birds Directive of 1979, to the Hortobagy National Park in Hungary – beneficiary of an EU Life project – and the Millennium Seed Bank in the south of England. This last houses a vast collection of endangered plant species thanks, in part, to crucial funding from the EU.