Conservation status (nature protection)

The conservation status in nature and species protection is an assessment of the influences that affect the distribution and size of populations of protected species , or the distribution and species configuration of protected biotope types (referred to in this context as habitat types ). The term is mostly used in connection with the so-called Habitats Directive of the EU . The EU's Birds Directive also speaks of “maintaining or improving the populations of the relevant bird species” (Article 2).

In contrast to the Habitats Directive, in Red Lists of endangered species or habitats it is not the conservation status but the degree of endangerment that is assessed and indicated. Conservation status and degree of endangerment are roughly inversely proportional: a favorable conservation status corresponds to a low degree of endangerment, but are defined somewhat differently in detail. In species protection, the definition of the “favorable” conservation status according to the Habitats Directive is particularly important, because this has direct legal effect, while the degree of endangerment according to the Red List is only a legally non-binding expert judgment.

Degree of risk in the Red Lists

In the Red Lists of Endangered Species or Habitats, the endangerment situation is given in several stages between harmless and extinct.

The endangerment categories established by the World Conservation Union (IUCN) are increasingly being used in national Red Lists. In regional or older Red Lists, however, other names can very often be found.

Hazard category	IUCN	Germany	Switzerland	Meaning (short form)
Hazard categories that are used in the IUCN Red Lists, Germany and the older editions of Switzerland
Extinct, lost, extinct Extinct	EX	0	0	There is no longer any known living individual in the world.
Extinct in the Wild extinct in nature	EW	---	---	There are only living specimens left in captivity (e.g. in zoological gardens) or in culture (e.g. in botanical gardens ) or in naturalized populations outside the natural range of the species.
Regionally Extinct Regionally Extinct	RE	---	---	The species is registered as EX or EW in a national or regional red list.
Threatened with extinction Critically Endangered	CR	1	1	The risk that the species will become extinct in the near future is extremely high.
Endangered Endangered	EN	2	2	The risk that the species will become extinct in the near future is very high.
Endangered, Vulnerable Vulnerable	VU	3	3	The risk that the species will become extinct in the near future is high.
Potentially Near Threatened	NT	V, 4 or R	4th	The threshold values for the hazard levels were only just undercut and / or will probably be exceeded in the near future.
Least concern is not at risk	LC	*	n	The species was not classified in one of the categories NT to EX and is currently not considered endangered.
Insufficient data available Data Deficient	DD	D.	---	The information available on the species is insufficient to allow a classification.
Not rated Not Evaluated	NE	♦	4b or -	The species exists in the assessed area but has not been assessed.

Conservation status according to the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive

In the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive , the concept of conservation status is defined separately for habitats and species:

The conservation status of a natural habitat is determined by the totality of the effects that influence the habitat concerned and the characteristic species occurring therein and which can have long-term effects on its natural distribution, its structure and its functions as well as the survival of its characteristic species (Article 1 lit. e Directive 92/43 / EEC ).
The conservation status of a species is determined by the totality of influences that can have long-term effects on the distribution and size of the populations of the species concerned (Article 1 lit. i Directive 92/43 / EEC).

In accordance with Article 17 of the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive, the EU member states must prepare a report every six years which, among other things, includes the conservation status for all species and habitat types (collectively referred to as protected assets) that are included in the appendices to the Fauna-Flora-Habitat Directive are listed and have their natural range in the respective EU country. The evaluation must be carried out separately according to the biogeographical regions of the EU and is carried out in a three-stage system:

code	Category (English)	Category (German)	Meaning (short form)
FV	favorable	Cheap	The protected property is not endangered, the area of distribution and the available habitat do not decrease and are dimensioned in such a way that the population is still able to survive (for full definition see Article 1 lit. e and i of Directive 92/43 / EEC).
U1	unfavorable – inadequate	unfavorable – insufficient	The protected item is not yet acutely endangered, but concrete measures are required to bring the protected item into a favorable state of conservation.
U2	unfavorable – bad	unfavorable – bad	The survival of the protected property is, at least regionally, strongly endangered.
XX	unknown	unknown	The available data on a protected property are not sufficient for an assessment of the conservation status.

In order to obtain comparability across all EU member states, the methodology for determining the conservation status is standardized. In addition to the actual conservation status of a protected asset, several parameters (natural range, population size, condition of the species habitat, area of a habitat and so on) are assessed and short and long-term trends are recorded for each species and each habitat type.