The 21st May is declared as European Natura 2000 Day. This reminds as to celebrate all across Europe, the achievements of the Natura 2000 Network. The aim of this year’s celebration is to inspire mainly the youth to engage to the protection and restoration of nature.

Natura 2000 Network is the largest network of protected areas in the world and the most valuable tool to safeguard our natural heritage. It is a network of core breeding and resting sites for rare and threatened fauna and flora species and rare habitat types. The Natura 2000 Network in Cyprus consists of 63 sites which corresponds to 29% of land area effectively controlled by the Republic of Cyprus. 75% of State Forests is comprised to the Network, which stresses the significance of these areas in order to safeguard biodiversity, the most valuable resource of nature. The Network has a key role to the protection of the natural ecosystems of the island and halting the biodiversity loss -the value of which emerged through the tragic consequences of the current COVID-19 pandemic -and it also promotes sustainable forms of development.

Given the current situation and the unprecedented conditions in Europe (and the whole world), no events will take place in natural areas like the previous years. For this reason, all LIFE projects in Cyprus dealing with environmental issues, prepared a short video about the Natura 2000 Network in Cyprus.