Working with biodiversity goals in European directives : a comparison of the implementation of the Birds and Habitat Directives and the Water Framework Directive in the Netherlands, Belgium, France and Germany

The Netherlands is the only country in this study to have set ecological goals related to the Birds and Habitats Directive (BHD) at the national level. Neither Germany nor France and Belgium have been formulated such national- level goals and even the favorable conservation status at the national level is some times unknown or incomplete. This is mainly because of differences in the governmental system (federal and non federal), which lead to different responsibilities for defining the ecological goals between national and lower governmental authorities. However, much (in terms of ‘dos and don’ts’) can be learned from the French experience, which started earlier than most other European countries, of using bottom up participation processes in the Natura 2000 sites