Environmental Policy Plan 2011-2015 (MINA 4 plan)

The Flemish objectives for the conservation of biodiversity are included in the Environmental Policy Plan 2011-2015 (MINA 4 plan). An environmental policy plan is drawn up every 5 years as based on the General Environmental Policy Provisions Decree of Flemish Government (GEPPD, 1995). The Environmental Policy Plan 2011-2015 succeeds the MINA plan 3(+), which ended in 2010. The most important principle of the successive MINA plans is consistency. The envi-ronmental policy plan is not an isolated effort: it is based on such documents as the environmental and nature reports. This plan is followed up and refined in the environmental programmes.

The plan’s primary function is to promote the ef¬ficacy and efficiency of the environmental policy and internal coherence at all levels and in all areas. In addition, the environmental policy plan also has an external function, since it was established by the entire Flemish Government and is therefore a commitment that has been made by every minister for his or her purview.

The plan contains eight challenges which guide the environmental and energy policy in the long term, one of these being “Conserving biodiversity and ecosystem integrity”. The objective of the Flemish nature policy is to conserve, restore and strengthen the biodiversity within species, between species and of ecosystems. The focus is on the conservation objectives for the purposes of conserving biodiversity.

The operational objectives of MINA 4 plan are:

• In 2020, sufficient habitat will have been established, re-destined, improved or demarcated to achieve 70% of the conservation objectives of the species and habitats to be protected in Europe.
• In 2015, the condition of endangered and protected groups of species will have improved.
• In 2015, more quality nature under conservation management will have been achieved.
• By 2020, forested area extent and quality have improved.

A package of measures to be taken is provided to support these objectives, as well as the division of tasks and quantitative goals expected by 2015 for biodiversity, through indicators as the “butterfly index”, forest indicators or the total area under conservation management specified in a management plan.

The evaluation of the status of biodiversity in Flanders and the follow-up of the implementation of this policy plan are carried out by means of 21 biodiversity indicators, which are closely linked to SEBI European biodiversity indicators. The indicators are published and regularly updated on the biodiversity indicators website (www.biodiversityindicators.be), on the website of the plan (http://www.milieubeleidsplan.be ) and on the environment indicators website (www.milieurapport.be). Pages in English are available.