The Emerald Network Reference Portal provides guidance for filling in the Standard Data Form (SDF). The portal provides those elements of the SDF which are subject to change over time and subject to changes due to technical developments. These elements are reference documents (e.g. the coding of species and/or habitats), technical support material (e.g. data-model, applications) as well as guidelines to ensure a consistent use of the SDF by all Contracting Parties and observer States to the Bern Convention and to outline the technical and administrative procedures on how to submit data to the Secretariat of the Bern Convention.

ISO 3166 country-code (SDF FIELD: 1.2)

Each Emerald Network site is recognised by a unique code, whereof the first two characters form the country code which mirrors the 2-letter ISO 3166 country-code.

English name

Albania


Andorra


Armenia


Azerbaijan


Belarus


Bosnia and Herzegovina


Burkina Faso


Georgia


Holy See


Iceland


Liechtenstein


Monaco


Montenegro

ISO code

AL


AD


AM


AZ


BY


BA


BF


GE


VA


IS


LI


MC


ME

English name

Morocco


North Macedonia


Norway


Republic of Moldova


Russian Federation


San Marino


Senegal


Serbia


Switzerland


Tunisia


Türkiye


Ukraine

ISO code

MA


MK


NO


MD


RU


SM


SN


RS


CH


TN


TR


UA

List of Emerald Network sites (SDF field: 1.7)

The list of officially adopted sites is published each year following the annual meeting of the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention.

List of officially adopted Emerald sites (last updated in December 2023)

The list of candidate sites is published each year following the annual meeting of the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention.

List of officially nominated candidate sites (last updated in December 2023)

Marine Regions (SDF field: 2.3)
Administrative Regions (SDF field: 2.5)

The list corresponds to the Nomenclature of Territorial Units for Statistics of Europe (NUTS), which is maintained by EUROSTAT. For the SDF field 2.5 the NUTS level 2 is used. In case, for a particular country no official NUTS codes exist, an agreed similar coding system is used

Biogeographical regions (SDF field: 2.6)

The Emerald Network currently considers eleven terrestrial biogeographical regions (Arctic, Alpine, Anatolian, Atlantic, Black Sea, Boreal, Continental, Mediterranean, Macaronesia, Pannonian, Steppic).

Code list for habitats (SDF field: 3.1)

The codes of the endangered natural habitats requiring specific conservation measures as listed in Resolution No. 4 (1996) (including revised Annex 1 to Resolution No. 4 (1996), adopted in 2019 by the Standing Committee)

Correspondence table between the old and new version of Annex 1 of Resolution 4 (1996) of the Bern Convention on endangered natural habitat types

Interpretation manual of the habitats listed in Resolution No. 4 (1996) - T-PVS/PA(2019)18

Code list for species (SDF fields: 3.2, 3.3)

The codes of the species requiring specific habitat conservation measures as listed in Resolution No. 6 (1998) (including revised Annex 1 to Resolution No. 6 (1998), adopted in 2011 by the Standing Committee)

Under development

Other code lists (SDF fields: 3.2, 3.3)
  • SPECIES GROUPS:
    A =Amphibians, B = Birds, F = Fish, Fu = Fungi, I = Invertebrates, L = Lichens, M = Mammals, P =Plants, R = Reptiles
     
  • TYPE:
    p = permanent; r = reproducing; c = concentration; w = wintering;
    (For plant and non-migratory species use permanent)
     
  • DATA QUALITY:
    G = ‘Good’ (e.g. based on surveys); M = ‘Moderate’ (e.g. based on partial data with some extrapolation); P = ‘Poor’ (e.g. rough estimation); DD = data deficient (use this category only, if not even a rough estimation of the population size can be made, in this case the fields for population size can remain empty, but the field "Abundance categories" has to be filled in)
     
  • ABUNDANCE CATEGORIES:
    C = common, R = rare, V = very rare, P=present
     
  • MOTIVATION CATEGORIES:
    A = National Red List data, B = Endemics C = International Conventions, D= other reasons
Population units (SDF fields: 3.2, 3.3)

Please use the units individuals (= i) or pairs (= p) wherever possible, otherwise follow the standardised list of population units and codes, which can be found here.

Habitat Classes for "General Site character" (SDF field: 4.1)

In order to describe the general site character broad habitat classes are used.

For additional information on the correspondence between these broad habitat classes and the EUNIS units check out the following table.

Threats, Pressures, Activities (SDF field: 4.3)
Nature conservation designation types (SDF field: 5.1)

This table contains codes following the structure of the Common Database of Designated Areas (CDDA) for some Contracting Parties. For further information on CDDA Designations click on this link.

Maintained by: European Environment Agency (EEA), last updated: 07.07.2011

Documentation

Guidelines for submitting Emerald Network data

 

Helpdesk

If you have questions, please read the FAQ, if you don't find an answer there, please contact the helpdesk [email protected]

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)