European reserve
European reserve is a title given by the International Council for the Protection of Birds to bird sanctuaries that have the following characteristics:
- international significance
- Habitat of a considerable number of waders and water birds (relevance according to the international Ramsar convention on wetlands)
- Recognition of protection by the organization BirdLife International ( Important Bird Area )
- Guarding and scientific supervision
- Securing at least the core area as a national nature reserve
- At least a partial ban on hunting for the birds to be protected in the greater part of the reserve and the exclusion of other concerns
In addition, the title was awarded by the Council of Europe in 1979 to the Unterer Inn protected area , the first cross-border protected area of the EC from Germany with Austria, which had not yet joined. This model became obsolete with the EU enlargements and was replaced by the Natura 2000 network , but the area still bears the name.