A Site of Community Importance (SCI) is defined in the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

Habitats Directive The Habitats Directive (more formally known as Council Directive 92/43/EEC on the Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora) is a directive adopted by the European Community in 1992 as a response to the Berne Convention. The E ...

(92/43/EEC) as a site which, in the biogeographical region or regions to which it belongs, contributes significantly to the maintenance or restoration at a favourable conservation status of a natural habitat type or of a species and may also contribute significantly to the coherence of Natura 2000, and/or contributes significantly to the maintenance of biological diversity within the biogeographic region or regions concerned. They are proposed to the Commission by the State Members and once approved, they can be designated as SACs by the State Member.

Definition

In the environment field, the term is used to define an area: * which contributes significantly to maintaining or restoring one of the 233 European natural

habitat In ecology, the term habitat summarises the array of resources, physical and biotic factors that are present in an area, such as to support the survival and reproduction of a particular species. A species habitat can be seen as the physical ...

types defined in Annex I of the

or to maintaining in a favourable state of conservation one of the approximately 900 species defined in Annex II; * which can contribute to the coherence of the Natura 2000 network of protected areas in the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

; * and/or which contributes significantly to maintaining the

biodiversity Biodiversity or biological diversity is the variety and variability of life on Earth. Biodiversity is a measure of variation at the genetic (''genetic variability''), species (''species diversity''), and ecosystem (''ecosystem diversity'') l ...

of the region in which it is located.

Examples of the habitat types defined in Annex I

* Open sea and tidal areas * Sea dunes of the Atlantic, North Sea and Baltic coasts * Phrygana * Natural

grassland A grassland is an area where the vegetation is dominated by grasses ( Poaceae). However, sedge ( Cyperaceae) and rush ( Juncaceae) can also be found along with variable proportions of legumes, like clover, and other herbs. Grasslands occur na ...

s * Mediterranean

sclerophyllous Sclerophyll is a type of vegetation that is adapted to long periods of dryness and heat. The plants feature hard leaves, short internodes (the distance between leaves along the stem) and leaf orientation which is parallel or oblique to direct ...

forests

Examples of the species defined in Annex II

Eurasian lynx The Eurasian lynx (''Lynx lynx'') is a medium-sized wild cat widely distributed from Northern, Central and Eastern Europe to Central Asia and Siberia, the Tibetan Plateau and the Himalayas. It inhabits temperate and boreal forests up to an eleva ...

(Lynx lynx) * Lilford's wall lizard (Podarcis lilfordi) * Apteromantis aptera * Centaurea alba * Jasminum azoricum

References

Protected areas of Europe European Union and the environment Natura 2000 {{EU-stub

Definition

Examples of the habitat types defined in Annex I

Examples of the species defined in Annex II

See also

References