Last week, the renowned journal Science published a BirdLife International analysis showing that the European Union’s Birds Directive has made a significant difference in protecting many of the continent’s most threatened birds from further decline, BirdLife Malta said in a statement yesterday.

BirdLife said the groundbreaking paper shows that the Birds Directive has clearly helped those species considered to be most at risk, partly through the designation of Special Protection Areas (SPAs).

The Birds Directive was adopted in 1979 and is now binding law for all EU countries. It requires special conservation measures for a number of listed species.

Importantly, the research, taking into account the 15 member states for which sufficient data were available, showed that the populations of threatened birds not only fared better, on average, than other bird species in the European Union, but also that the same species perform better within the EU than in European countries outside.

Paul Donald, the paper’s senior author from the RSPB (BirdLife’s partner in the UK) said: “For over 25 years, the Birds Directive has helped provide proper protection for those bird species facing the greatest threats. Today we can reveal that this protection has apparently worked.”

BirdLife hopes this evidence will now boost efforts of governments to comply with the Birds Directive, especially in the new EU member states. Many EU member states continued to undermine the importance of conservation and as a result, the European Commission started legal action against these member states including Malta last June after failing to designate enough protected areas for birds (SPAs).

Joseph Mangion, President of BirdLife Malta said: “Europe has a world-class conservation law and there is no excuse any more for delayed action.

“BirdLife warns that insufficient designation and protection of sites, lack of funding for site management and illegal spring hunting could reverse the successes of the Birds Directive, perpetuating dramatic declines not only in Malta but also in Europe’s wildlife.”