Natura 2000 Award - Award categories

The Conservation on land category is aimed at conservation activities on terrestrial sites that improved the conservation status of terrestrial species or habitats protected on the site(s) in question. Applications submitted under this category would typically focus on best-practices or particularly successful conservation achievements.

This award recognises achievements that have improved the conservation status of a particular terrestrial habitat type and / or species. Targeted habitat types or species must be in the Habitats Directive Annex I or II or Birds Directive Annex I or be a regularly occurring migratory bird. This means that species only listed in Annex IV of the Habitats Directive, for instance, cannot be the target and such applications would not be eligible.

Applications presenting successes in the creation of improved connections and corridors between sites in the Natura 2000 network are welcome, as they respond to an important concern for the implementation of Natura 2000.

The Marine conservation category is aimed at conservation activities on marine or coastal sites that improved the conservation status of marine or coastal species or habitats protected on the site(s) in question. Applications submitted under this category would typically focus on best-practices or particularly successful conservation achievements.

This award recognises achievements that have improved the conservation status of a particular marine or coastal habitat type and / or marine or coastal species. Targeted habitat types or species must be in the Habitats Directive Annex I or II or Birds Directive Annex I, or be a regularly occurring migratory bird. This means that species only listed in Annex IV of the Habitats Directive, for instance, cannot be the target and such applications would not be eligible.

Applications presenting successes in the creation of improved connections and corridors between sites in the Natura 2000 network are welcome, as they respond to an important concern for the implementation of Natura 2000.

The Communication category is aimed at any kind of communication or promotional activities that explicitly focus on raising awareness or bringing lasting positive change in attitudes or behaviour towards Natura 2000. They can be large-scale, or small-scale actions, and their target audiences can be specific or general.

This award recognises communication achievements that led to increased awareness about Natura 2000, and which brought lasting positive changes in attitudes or behaviour towards the network.

Applications to this category must be targeted at specific Natura 2000 sites. If an application addresses multiple sites or the whole Natura 2000 network by targeting a whole interest group or the general public, it must nevertheless show a tangible positive impact on at least one Natura 2000 site.

The Working together for nature category is aimed at applications featuring a concrete positive impact on Natura 2000 through the creation of social or economic benefits for local people or communities, and / or through the resolution of conflicts bringing together stakeholders who were not originally inclined to work together.

This award recognises:

1. The creation of socio-economic benefits for local stakeholders resulting from activities linked to a Natura 2000 site such as a Natura 2000 label, nature-based tourism activities, increased revenue for specific stakeholder groups, or creation of new jobs, etc.; and / or
2. Conflict resolution efforts that have brought together different stakeholders in a way that has benefitted Natura 2000, focusing on an evolution from a polarised situation to an honourable compromise, with mechanisms in place for the various stakeholders to work together.

The stakeholder groups targeted may be, for example, land or resource users, local communities, economic actors, or non-traditional actors (military, church, private companies, etc.).

This category was previously called Socio-economic benefits.

The Cross-border cooperation category is aimed at any collaborative endeavours that positively benefit Natura 2000. These collaborations can be between different partners coming together over a common theme or problem, or they can be true cross-border collaborations across institutional, regional or national borders. They must show a concrete impact on at least one Natura 2000 site.

This category concerns the establishment of effective partnerships between stakeholders involved in the management / conservation of Natura 2000 sites that are aimed at resolving Natura 2000 issues more constructively than would have been the case if the partners had operated individually.

Two types of partnerships are concerned by this category:

1. Cross-border collaboration in order to achieve better conservation of a species / habitat type whose geographic distribution requires such an approach. Cross-border cooperation may be between countries or self-governing regions in a federal state (such as Germany, Belgium, Austria, Spain). It can also include the transfer of knowledge / best practice in the explicit framework of a biogeographic region context.
2. Networking among structures with similar thematic targets (e.g. wetland Natura 2000 sites, managers of Natura 2000 sites, partners working on a same species or group of species such as carnivores, reptiles, etc.) within the same country (or same region for federal countries).

The European Citizens’ Award is not a category but a recognition by the public of its favourite finalist. The finalists from all categories are automatically entered into a public vote and the finalist with the highest number of votes wins the coveted Citizens’ Award.