Accredited official statistics

Status of threatened habitats of European importance

Updated 10 December 2024

Applies to England

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This publication is available at https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/england-biodiversity-indicators/status-of-threatened-habitats-of-european-importance

Last updated: 2024

Latest data available: 2019

Introduction

This indicator is based on the results of UK reporting undertaken under a European Directive, and was last updated prior to the end of the Transition Period following the UK’s exit from the European Union (31 January 2020). This reporting requirement has since been translated into the Habitats Regulations on which England is expected to report again in 2026.

Member States of the European Union are required to report every 6 years on the conservation status of habitats and species of community interest (listed in the Annexes of the Habitats Directive). These are habitats and species for which the UK had European level conservation responsibilities.

The assessments needed to conclude whether each habitat of European importance occurring in England was in a: ‘Favourable’, ‘Unfavourable-Inadequate’, ‘Unfavourable-Bad’ or ‘Unknown’ conservation status. This indicator is based on an evaluation of whether the overall results for the most recent assessment (2019) were better or worse than those for the previous assessments (2007 and 2013).

Data for this indicator can be found in the published datafile. We also produce a similar indicator at the UK scale.

Type of indicator

State Indicator

Type of official statistics

Official Statistic

Assessment of change

Assessment of change in conservation status of habitats of European importance occurring in England based on the percentage of habitats in favourable or improving conservation status

Measure Assessment Time period Result
Conservation status of habitats of European importance Long term 2007 to 2019 Deteriorating
Conservation status of habitats of European importance Short term 2013 to 2019 Deteriorating

The long and short-term assessments are based on a 3% rule of thumb. See Assessing Indicators. Article 17 reports are only submitted once every 6 years, thus, the short-term assessment is based on a 6 year period.

Key results

In 2007, 6% of habitats occurring in England that are listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive were in favourable conservation status; this figure decreased to 3% in 2013 before increasing again to 6% in 2019 (Figure 1).

The conservation status of 49% of the habitats was unfavourable-improving in 2007, it decreased to 33% in 2013 and 21% in 2019.

The conservation status of 30% of the habitats was unfavourable-declining in 2007, this decreased to 24% in 2013 and 23% in 2019.

Figure 1: Conservation status of habitats of European importance occurring in England, 2007, 2013 and 2019

Source: UK Habitats Directive (Article 17) report to the EU, 2007, 2013 and 2019.

Notes about Figure 1:

  • The graph is based on the 70 habitats listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive that occur in England.

Further detail

The indicator is based on an evaluation of whether the results obtained in 2019 were better or worse than those obtained in 2013 (short term) and 2007 (long term). It is likely to take time before habitats move from unfavourable conservation status to favourable conservation status, so for the unfavourable assessments, an assessment of trend is made to determine if the habitat is improving, declining, or showing no change. At its simplest (Figure 1), this can be the proportion of habitats which are favourable, or show an improving trend (that is, favourable, or unfavourable-inadequate but improving, or unfavourable-bad but improving). This applies to 27% of habitats assessed in 2019, 36% of habitats assessed in 2013 and 54% of habitats assessed in 2007; the measure is therefore assessed as declining in both the long and short term.Note that the combined figures for favourable and unfavourable-improving may differ from the sum of the figures provided individually for these categories due to rounding.

Figure 1 combines the unfavourable inadequate and unfavourable-bad assessments which show a similar direction of trend. In all 3 assessments, improving and declining trends were assigned where the evidence allowed a conclusion that improvements or declines in the conservation status of habitats were occurring. Thus:

  • Unfavourable-inadequate improving, and unfavourable-bad improving were summed to form the category ‘unfavourable improving’, and
  • Unfavourable-inadequate declining and unfavourable-bad declining were summed to form the category ‘unfavourable declining’.

In 2007, no trend was assigned to those habitats which were neither improving nor declining. This included both habitats for which the trend was unknown, and those for which there was no evidence of change. For ease of comparison in the figures, unfavourable-inadequate and unfavourable-bad assessments with no trend conclusion in 2007 were summed to form the category ‘unfavourable stable’; the same term was used for 2013 and 2019 data, but with more confidence that the trend was neither improving nor declining.

Figure 2 provides a breakdown of Figure 1 by showing the number of habitats in the unfavourable categories which arise from the unfavourable-inadequate or unfavourable-bad assessment categories in 2019. The picture for habitats is somewhat worse than for species (see Status of species of European importance), in that relatively more habitats are in unfavourable conservation status, and relatively more habitats which are unfavourable are in unfavourable-bad status.

Figure 2: Status of habitats of European importance occurring in England, 2019

Source: UK Habitats Directive (Article 17) report to the EU, 2019.

Notes about Figure 2:

  • The graph is based on the 70 habitats listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive that occur in England.
  • Darker red bars show the number of habitats within a trend which were unfavourable-bad; orange bars show the number of habitats within a trend which were unfavourable-inadequate.

Relevance

Article 17 of the European Union Habitats Directive requires Member States to report every six years on progress made with maintaining and/or restoring favourable conservation status for habitat types and habitats of community interest. These are a subset of the England habitats and habitats for which the UK had European-level conservation responsibilities.

Acknowledgements

Thank you to the many people who have contributed by providing data and to the many colleagues who have helped produce this indicator.

Technical annex

Background

The indicator shows progress with maintaining and/or restoring favourable conservation status for habitats listed under Annex I of the EU Habitats Directive. These are habitats for which the UK had European level conservation responsibilities. An assessment of status and trends for each habitat is undertaken every 6 years. Trends in unfavourable conservation status allow identification of whether progress is being made, as it will take many years for some habitats to reach favourable conservation status. The status assessments presented in this indicator are based on 70 UK habitats listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive that are found in England.

The first assessment of conservation status of habitats and habitats listed in the annexes of the Directive was produced in 2007; a second assessment was produced in 2013; and a third assessment was made in 2019. Each individual habitat assessment requires information on 4 parameters, which are brought together to form an overall assessment. The parameters are: range, area, structure; and functions and future prospects.

The Joint Nature Conservation Committee and Natural England have carefully collated and considered a wide range of data, using a robust quality assurance protocol, to come to the conclusion for each habitat, and to ensure changes, including within category changes, have been consistently and accurately discriminated. These changes are ecologically important, as stabilising a decline in a habitat, for example, is an important conservation achievement. The information sources on which the assessments are based are quite varied – their quality is documented in the database which underpins the assessments. The changes are largely based on evidence, though expert opinion was used in cases where evidence was not available.

Methodology

The trend in the overall assessment is based upon an integration of the trend information for the individual parameters (see links for UK approach). Each assessment concludes whether the habitat is in one of the following states:

  • ‘favourable’
  • ‘unfavourable-inadequate’
  • ‘unfavourable-bad’ or
  • ‘unknown’

The UK reported on 70 habitats listed in Annex I of the Habitats Directive in 2013 The conservation status assessments quoted in this indicator are for a subset consisting of 70 UK habitats that are found in England (Table 1).

A full list of these habitats, together with their individual assessment results for 2007, 2013 and 2019 is presented in the dataset supporting this indicator.

Table 1: Taxonomic breakdown of the 70 habitats reported in 2019

Habitat group Number of habitats
Bogs, mires and fens 9
Coastal 16
Freshwater 7
Grasslands 8
Heath and scrub 8
Marine 7
Rocky habitats 6
Woodlands 9

Development plan

Since our previous publication we have adapted the language and visualisations used in this indicator. We are keen to hear from our users about these changes, as well as our published development plan, please email us.

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