Design and implementation of Flemish monitoring programmes for the natural environment of Natura 2000 habitat types

The project aims at the design of monitoring programmes for the natural environment (MNE) of the Natura 2000 habitat types (and optionally, the so-called Regionally Important Biotopes) in Flanders. No long-term monitoring programme currently exists with this focus. As environmental pressures severely hinder the achievement of a favourable conservation status for most of these habitat types, monitoring of their environmental characteristics is imperative to guide Flemish nature policy. The MNE will allow to prioritize, underpin and evaluate environment-oriented nature policy measures at the Flemish scale by generating representative long-term data of known quality.