The Habitats Directive and the Natura 2000 Network

This chapter will locate the Habitats Directive’s genesis in its relevant historical and international context. It will indicate the European legislator’s primary motivations for drafting biodiversity conservation legislation, although the EU was initially founded as a customs union. It will retrace the developments that eventually led the EU to assume its current role as one of the leading global contributors to current biodiversity conservation law and policy discussions and developments. The chapter will then inform the reader why the Habitats Directive has been cast in the form of a directive and assess the various legal instruments the EU may choose when implementing new environmental legislation. It will discuss why the choice of a directive has been suitable for European biodiversity conservation. Subsequently, the chapter will discuss the effectiveness of EU environmental law-making, its particular challenges and how environmental enforcement within the EU is not always an efficient means to implement environmental legislation.