[LEPS-L:8047] Prime Butterfly Areas in Europe

[Chris van Swaay]

Last year the Council of Europe published the Red Data Book of 
European Butterflies. This report would never have been possible 
without your great help and support of more than 50 national 
compilers. Recently we obtained permission from the Council of 
Europe to publish revised versions of the main results on the 
internet. We are also preparing a searchable database, so the 
information will become freely available to everyone.  For more 
information you can check the website:
www.vlinderstichting.nl/en/randc/rdb.htm

The publication of a Red Data Book has been enormously valuable 
to help identify priority species in Europe and we believe it is 
already being used to target conservation effort in many countries. 
However, we still need to do much more and we are working on 
an important new follow-on project.  

For the most threatened species, immediate action is needed to 
avoid extinction and maintain existing populations. The main way to 
achieve this is to ensure the protection and good management of 
important habitats. In order to support national and European nature 
conservation organisations to protect these locations, it is 
necessary to produce an overview of the most important (Prime) 
Butterfly Areas in Europe. The results will support other initiatives, 
like Natura 2000, the Pan-European Ecological Network (PEEN), the 
Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy and the 
Bern Convention.

Thanks to financial support from the Dutch Ministry of Agriculture,
Nature Conservation and Fisheries we now have the possibility to
produce a full colour book containing an overview of the Prime
Butterfly Areas in Europe. The project is also supported and
supervised by the European Centre of Nature Conservation (ECNC) 
and the Group of Experts on Invertebrates of the Bern Convention 
of the Council of Europe. 

Unlike the recent publication on Important Bird Areas, we do not 
have the time or resources to attempt to give a complete overview 
of important butterfly areas, but will concentrate on a selection of 
the most important (prime) ones. If the project goes well we may 
be able to attempt a more comprehensive list of Important Butterfly 
Areas at a later date.

You can find more information on: 
www.vlinderstichting.nl/en/randc/pba.htm



Chris van Swaay - Dutch Butterfly Conservation
Martin Warren - British Butterfly Conservation

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Chris van Swaay
De Vlinderstichting - Dutch Butterfly Conservation
Postbus 506
NL-6700 AM  Wageningen
Bezoekadres/visiting address:
   Mennonietenweg 10, Wageningen
The Netherlands
tel.: +31-(0)317-467346
fax: +31-(0)317-420296
email: chris.vanswaay at vlinderstichting.nl
homepage: http://www.vlinderstichting.nl
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