WP 1 & WP2 Progress under reporting - Habitats and Birds Directive Expert Group on Reporting under the Nature Directives Brussels, 24.11.2011 Marita Arvela & Brian Mac Sharry ETC/BD Ian Burfield, N2K Group/BirdLife International

This presentation covers Progress on Art 17 HD reporting (Marita Arvela) Progress on Art 12 BD reporting and outcomes of the kick-off meeting for Birds reporting (Ian Burfield) Reporting tool (Brian Mac Sharry)

Progress on Art 17 HD reporting

Progress since March EG meeting Approval of the reporting format on 13.5.2011 Guidelines were ready on 11.7. Reference Portal for Art 17 Reporting http://bd.eionet.europa.eu/article17/reference_portal Checklist for Art 17 reporting available at Reference Portal Reporting tool – ready to be tested

Art 17 Reference Portal prepared by ETC/BD http://bd.eionet.europa.eu/article17/reference_portal Includes: Reporting format, guidelines for reporting, tables of codes needed to fill in the format, checklist of species and habitat types, list of threats and pressures, conservation measures etc Target: all documents available in one place Will be used for any updates when necessary

Article 17 Checklists Checklists indicate to MS which species and habitat types are expected to be reported in 2007-2012 1st MS consultation took place on 28.7.-17.9.2010 2nd MS consultation on 5.4.-2.5.2011 19 MS commented, ETC reviewed the comments Special emphasis was given to taxonomic issues (e.g. newly described/recognized species) ETC note on taxonomic issues attached to the Checklist

Basic rules regarding recent splits or changes in understanding of taxonomy of species Recent split: to report at species level in line with current understanding about taxonomy if species can be distinguished morphologically and/or geographically Link to HD name is questionable (changes in understanding of species listed in HD or species concept not clear): to follow how species were understood by the legislator around 1992, 1997 etc.

Article 17 Checklists (cont.) ETC proposal is a practical solution for taxonomic changes for 2007-2012 reporting round Complex taxonomic issues – not all could be solved with clear proposal There will be a possibility to modify the checklist in the Reporting tool and send it part of the MS delivery

Reporting Tool (overview) ETC Note on the development sent to MS on 26.6. (17 MS responded) Technical development done by EEA with close contact with ETC Tool uses MS Access (Access 2003, 2007 & 2010) Range tool to be provided Testing starting on 1st December MS contact persons needed (mac-sharry@mnhn.fr) Training for MS in March 2012

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) If a need appears under Art 17 & Art 12 reporting, this platform can be established for specific questions which turn up when MS prepare their reports Place: Reference Portal for Art 17 and Art 12

Progress on Art 12 BD reporting and Outcomes of the kick-off meeting for bird reporting (13 Oct)

Progress since March REG meeting Final draft of Art 12 reporting format and guidelines circulated: April 2011 Minor changes (clarifications and amendments) made and posted on portal: July 2011 Reference Portal for Art 12 Reporting http://bd.eionet.europa.eu/activities/Article_12_Birds_Directive/reference_portal 2nd version of species checklist circulated: May 2011 Few MS responded by deadline, more (but not all) over summer/autumn – still resolving issues raised Reporting tool – under development (same as Art 17)

Bird species checklist Second round responses from 19 MS to date Still missing: BE, CZ, EE, GR, LV, LU, MT, RO No responses to either round: GR, LU, MT, RO Please respond ASAP (even if only to confirm OK) High level of agreement in most cases, but time consuming to resolve some individual issues with MS Taxonomy, changes to AEWA Table 1, Red List… Complex to merge ‘general’ and ‘SPA’ checklists Good support from ETC-BD and IT tool developers: agreed format for uploading checklist (by Jan 2012) Possibility of extending to rest of Europe for Red List

Kick-off meeting Art 12 BD reporting Full-day meeting at DG INFSO, 13 Oct – attended by MS, BirdLife Partners and other key stakeholders Main agenda points: Justification for new, harmonised reporting system Overview of format and guidelines (structure, scope) Reporting/Range Tools, Reference Portal, Report Net Cooperation with BiE3 and European Red List tender Other links: EBCC Atlas, AEWA reporting, waterbirds Examples of national mechanisms established/planned by Member States: DE, ES, FR, IT, SE, SI, UK Next steps, time planning, wrapping up, conclusions

Kick-off meeting Art 12 BD reporting Main issues raised, discussed and concluded: 2020 sub-target requires EU-level data/assessment MS should report on passage species motivating SPAs More guidance on level of data ‘certainty’ to be used Diversity of mechanisms established to harness best available data and reach broad national consensus Importance of considering quality and nature of data Pre-filling forms with existing data may help some MS EC support (via Red List tender) will help MS, but it is MSs’ duty to find modest resources needed to report MS encouraged to report ASAP, to allow verification

Reporting tool

Reporting Tool The tool is a based on the ‘Reporting format’. It is being designed in conjunction with the EEA The reporting tool will be… A desktop application Based on Access versions 2003, 2007 & 2010 Contains all reference material in built (look up tables) Their will be a series of tables With a ‘mask’ for entering the data National data coordinators will have extra ‘permissions’

Reporting Tool The reporting tool will allow Edit data (format, checklists) Store data Import data Merge datasets from different reporters Validate the data (Quality Assurance/Quality Control) Export data

Dataflow – national level

Dataflow

Reporting Tool Lookup tables

Mouse over for information Dropdown of Permitted values

Style the same as the ‘Reporting format’ document

Validation (QA/QC) Can run on the sub Form

Validation (QA/QC) Can run on the sub Form Or Report level

Reporting Tool The National Coordinator can manage the data from several reporters by… editing, deleting or comparing duplicate records

Reporting Tool

Reporting Tool XML

Reporting Tool Delivery of Art. 17 in June 2013 and Art. 12 data in December 2013.

Reporting Tool The reporting tool will be ready for beta testing on Thursday the 1st of December The final version of the tool will be available at the start of March 2012 There will be a training workshop at the start of March on the Reporting Tools, it is planned to have one day for the Article 17 tool [Habitats and Species] and another day for the Article 12 Tool [Birds]

Thank you for your attention Photo by O. Opermanis