Council of Europe

In December 2012, for the first time in the history of the Network, the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention officially adopted as Emerald sites, 37 areas in Switzerland. The 37 Swiss sites are therefore the first ones to officially join the Network. These sites have successfully passed the biogeographical assessment for their sufficiency, as foreseen in Phase II of the Network constitution process. National authorities in the country will now have to consider the management and conservation measures they want to put in place for these 37 sites, as well as to continue identifying additional areas suitable to join the Network on their territory.

In addition, the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention officially nominated as “Candidate Emerald sites” a number of sites proposed by seven countries from Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus. This nomination followed a previous official nomination as candidate Emerald sites for areas from 6 West Balkan countries, Switzerland, Norway and Morocco, in November 2011.

The official lists of candidate Emerald sites and adopted Emerald sites will be regularly reviewed by the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention. The newest version of these two lists can be consulted below:

List of officially adopted Emerald sites (last updated at the 32nd meeting of the Standing Committee, in December 2012)

List of officially nominated candidate Emerald sites (last updated at the 32nd meeting of the Standing Committee, in December 2012)


Reference documents adopted by the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention

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Resolution No. 4 (1996) listing endangered natural habitats requiring specific conservation measures

Resolution No. 5 (1998) concerning the rules for the Network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest (Emerald Network)

Resolution No. 6 (1998) listing the species requiring specific habitat conservation measures

Criteria for assessing the National Lists of proposed Emerald sites (ASCIs) at biogeographical level and procedure for examining and approving Emerald candidate sites (as adopted in 2010 by the Standing Committee)

Recommendation No.157 (2011) on the status of candidate Emerald sites and guidelines on the criteria for their nomination

Resolution No. 8 (2012) on the national designation of adopted Emerald sites and the implementation of management, monitoring and reporting measures

Information Form for new Species or Habitat to be added to the Bern Convention lists (Res. 4 (1996) and Res. 6 (1998)

Revised Annex I of Resolution 4 (1996) of the Bern Convention on endangered natural habitat types using EUNIS habitat classification

Revised Annex I of Resolution 6 (1998) of the Bern Convention on species requiring specific habitat conservation measures 

Protected areas and climate change in Europe

Other recent Emerald related documents


Support material to the use of the Emerald SDF

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