The Natura 2000 network and compensatory measures

The aim of this paper is to describe and analyse the EC-Environmental Law and the Danish legislation to protect the Natura 2000 areas. The Natura 2000 network is a coherent European ecological network of special areas of conservation. In some cases nature conservation must give way to the expansion of society. This is true, for instance, in connection with the continued expansion of infrastructure systems of importance to society. In other cases preference must be given to the preservation of threatened biotopes and animal species. This balancing act between society’s needs for efficient infrastructure on the one hand and the protection of biotopes and natural areas worthy of conservation on the other has been a part of Danish natural resource management for many years. Nature conservation is, however, no longer just a national concern in that the EU has, by adopting the Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds and the Habitat Directive, and by creating Natura 2000, established that the protection of wild animals and plants is a collective responsibility.