ENV Editor

Invasive alien species (IAS) are animals and plants that are introduced accidentally or deliberately into a natural environment where they are not normally found, with serious negative consequences for their new environment. They are a major threat to native plants and animals in Europe and are one of the five major causes of biodiversity loss. They can also cause significant adverse impacts on the economy (their economic impact in the European Union (EU) was estimated at around EUR 12 billion

Cabo Verde, being a Small Island Developing State (SIDS) within Sub-Saharan Africa, is prone to a growing vulnerability towards environmental and economic instabilities. Under the Cabo Verde’s Strategic Plan for Sustainable Development 2017-2021 (PEDS), the Government of Cabo Verde establishes the development targets for the period 2017-2021, including to make Cabo Verde’s economy circular and to ensure economic and environmental sustainability as two of their main objectives. This national strategy further classifies tourism as one of the main pillars of

Mediterranean Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) are slices of sea and coast placed under protection and managed because of their ecological importance. Through effective management, they protect the amazing marine life of the Mediterranean, ensuring the livelihoods of fishermen, stimulating the local economy and offering tourists the opportunity to rekindle their links with nature (MedPAN, 2023). The system of Mediterranean MPAs in 2020 Every four years, MedPAN (Network of Marine Protected Areas managers in the Mediterranean) and SPA/RAC (The Regional Activity Centre for

MAVA was born of the passion, vision and adventure of Luc Hoffmann. Created in 1994 to’promote the protection of nature’ and support the conservation of iconic sites: the Camargue in France, the Bijagos archipelago in Guinea-Bissau, Doñana in Spain, the Prespa Lakes in Greece, Northern Macedonia and Albania and the Banc d’Arguin in Mauritania. Sometimes neglected by mainstream conservation, they all have exceptional natural value. Click here to learn more about these exceptional sites and some of the extraordinary

In February of 2020, Liberia formally began this journey towards developing national System of Environmental Economic Accounting (SEEA). The Liberia Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), in partnership with other governmental agencies, and support from Conservation International, started implementation of the GEF-funded project Conservation and Sustainable Use of Liberia’s Coastal Natural Capital (the GEF NCA Liberia Project). The key objective of this five-year project is to improve conservation and sustainable use of Liberia’s coastal natural capital by mainstreaming the value of nature

The field of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) has been developed over the last five decades. On the most basic level, GIS is a spatial system that creates, manages, analyzes, and maps all types of data. Among the functionalities of GIS, we can also find data storage. GIS connects data to a map, integrating location data (where things are) with all types of descriptive information (what things are like there). This provides a foundation for mapping and analysis that is used

What is Natura 2000? Natura 2000 is the key instrument to protect biodiversity in the European Union. It is an ecological network of protected areas, set up to ensure the survival of Europe’s most valuable species and habitats. Natura 2000 is based on the 1979 Birds Directive and the 1992 Habitats Directive. The Natura 2000 network currently encompasses over 27,300 individual sites, altogether covering an area of more than 1.1 million square kilometres (EEA, 2022). This corresponds to 18% of the