Actions related to objective 1.2

Full text of the objective from the National Strategy

Flanders:

Inventories of the main ecosystems, habitats and species groups are included in the Nature Reports 1, 2, 3 and 4 (1999, 2001, 2003 and 2005, www.nara.be). Ongoing inventory and monitoring programmes for major species groups and major ecosystems as well as major programmes in some sectors at the genetic level. Publication of atlasses: Breading birds atlas, flora atlas, mammals atlas,...

• MINA-project 20 soortendiversiteit: o.m. soortenmonitoring ontwikkelen en uitvoeren (doelsoorten(groepen) en soorten van internationaal belang)
• MINA-project 21 bosbeleid: o.m. monitoringsysteem, monitoringsproject 8 bosreservaten (3 nieuwe in 2006)
• TWOL: basismonitoring van natuurreservaten
• TWOL: Geïntegreerde monitoring van de biodiversiteit van de terrestrische natuur
• TWOL: geïntegreerde monitoring ‘natte natuur
• monitoringsprogramma's toegespitst op vereisten internationale rapporteringen (i.e. speciale beschermingszones en soorten van internationaal belang)
• Scaldit-project: o.m. uitbouw monitoringprogramma's
• Uitgebreide monitoring van 12 Vlaamse Natuurreservaten

Brussels:

Information and monitoring network for major species groups of the flora and fauna of the Brussels Capital Region.
Publication of atlasses.
Monitoring of habitats and species in framework of Natura 2000.

Walloon Region:

Ongoing inventory and monitoring programmes for major species groups and major ecosystems.

An Observatory of Fauna, Flora and Habitats (OFFH, http://biodiversite.wallonie.be ) has been set up at the Nature, Forests and Wood Research Centre of the Walloon Region. It takes care of collecting and characterising data relating to biological diversity, which is done through the collaboration between a wide range of naturalists, scientists and officials of the Nature and Forestry Division.

1. One of its program is the Monitoring of the state of the environment through bio-indicators' (ISB-SURWAL). This programme aims at describing and monitoring the distribution of the following biological groups birds, dragonflies, butterflies, ladybirds, superior plants, reptiles, and amphibians.
2. The ‘Inventory and Monitoring of Habitats' (ISH) Program: the general aim is to make an inventory and monitor the distribution of habitats. This programme is in the process of being developed. It will lead, on the one hand, to standardising the way in which habitats are described and mapped out and, on the other hand, to monitoring the evolution of landscapes.
3. The ‘Inventory of Sites of Great Biological Interest' (SGIB) Program: the general objective is to gather information concerning areas that harbour species and habitats of great biological interest and integrate it into a standardised system.
4. The ‘System of information on Biodiversity in Wallonia' (SIBW) Program: the aim is to disseminate information collected within the scope of the first three programmes and all available, pertinent ‘non-sensitive' information.

Furthermore, the following monitoring is carried out:

• the permanent inventory of forest resources that include biodiversity parameters, the follow up of trees' health,
• the follow up of the biological quality of watersheds by the biotic index method, based on macro-invertebrates.

The indicators used are essentially:

• state indicators: evolution of indicators of their status (IUCN categories) of the above mentioned species, biotic index of watercourses, defoliation % of trees;
• pressure indicators: evolution of the occupation of soils, in particular in urban areas, indicators concerning other compartments of the environment;
• responses indicators: % of protected areas, measure for biodiversity conservation and sustainable use outside protected areas.

Other inventory or monitoring programs are also caried out on several habitats (quarries; caves; peatlands(study on impacts of nitrogen deposition)) and species (mammals; bats; hymenoptera)

Federal:

• Publication of ‘Biodiversity in Belgium' (2003), a comprehensive inventory on all groups of animals, plants, fungi and micro-organisms as well as on habitats present in Belgium.
• North Sea: Inventory and monitoring activities of components of the Belgian part of the North Sea by different actors (Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences, marine laboratory of the Ghent University, Flanders Marine Institute).
• A list of priority marine species and habitats has been developed in an international framework (OSPAR).

Future actions:

• Inventory the species actually protected by law in the regions and the north Sea;

• Harmonise the choice of protected species based on their national occurrence and standardize the methodology to develop (regional) red lists;
• Develop national red lists per taxon based on existing or new regional red lists per taxon with supervision by a small committee of a few taxon experts;
• Streamline monitoring and reporting on the conservation status of priority components of biodiversity;
• Take the specificity of Belgian ecosystems/species into account and identify the elements of biodiversity that are rare, particularly threatened with extinction, vulnerable or of particular importance (for ecosystem functioning; symbolic importance; cultural importance) at the Belgian level. Belgian regional red lists of threatened species already exist and could be used for this compilation of priority species. For the marine environment, a list of priority species and habitats has been developed in an international framework (OSPAR). National red lists would be very useful for example for reporting to the EU, OECD and IUCN and other organisations.