BirdLife Europe Publications

May 2021 - Burn or Restore

Meeting competing demands for land in the best way for nature, the climate, and human needs

December 2020 - Annual Report 2019

This is the 2019 edition of our Annual Report in which we present retrospectively successes and challenges for the past year.

November 2019 - BirdLife Europe position EU biodiversity strategy to 2030

We are in a biodiversity emergency. Read our plan for the EU

August 2019 - 2018 Annual Report

This is the 2018 edition of our Annual Report in which we present retrospectively successes and challenges for the past year.

August 2018 - 2017 Annual Report

This is the 2017 edition of our Annual Report in which we present retrospectively successes and challenges for the past year.

October 2017 - The Killing 2.0, A View to a Kill  

The BirdLife Partnership presents THE KILLING 2.0 — the second installment in our ongoing series of scientific reviews led by BirdLife exposing the scale and scope of the illegal killing of birds across critical regions. The first installment, published in August 2015, shocked many by revealing the brutal extent of the bird crime taking place in the Mediterranean. To those results, we now also add the results compiled from Northern Europe, Central Europe and the Caucasus. 

August 2017 - 2016 Annual Report

"All for One, One for All", the famous motto of Alexandre Dumas’ rip-roaring masterpiece ‘The Three Musketeers’ (1844), was one we happily adapted for our brightest moment of 2016, and one of our greatest victories in decades – the safeguarding of the EU’s signature nature laws, the Birds & Habitats Directives.

May 2017 - European birds of conservation concern: populations, trends and national responsabilities

This publication summarises the conservation status of 541 wild bird species in 50 European countries and territories (based on the 2016 IUCN Global Red List and taxonomic update), and aims to help national governments to easily identify the species that are in urgent need of attention and protection. 

February 2017 - An Action Plan for Nature, People and the Economy 

BirdLife Europe & Central Asia feedback to the process of drafting an Action Plan to follow up the Fitness Check of the Nature Directives.

December 2016 - EEB Memorandum to the Maltese Presidency, prepared in cooperation with BirdLife Europe and Seas At Risk  

This Memorandum, prepared in cooperation with BirdLife Europe and Seas at Risk, reflects on the issues that the EEB would like to see advanced during the Maltese Presidency. The most important issues are highlighted in the Ten Green Tests. At the end of June 2017, the Ten Green Tests will be used to evaluate the Presidency’s performance over the next six months.

November 2016 - The Black Book of Bioenergy 

In the Black Book of Bioenergy, we present a graphic visualisation of bioenergy’s dark side – one that casts a long shadow over our efforts to tackle climate change and preserve the planet.

September 2016 - The Laws of Nature 

What the EU should do to better protect nature in Europe

The Birds and Habitats Directives (here referred to as ‘Nature Directives’) are widely recognised as the cornerstone of EU-wide efforts to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity.

August 2016 - A New EU Sustainable Bioenergy Policy 

Proposal to regulate bioenergy production and use in the EU’s renewable energy policy framework 2020 - 2030

Eleven environmental and development organisations, including BirdLife Europe has launch these policy recommendations - outlining how the EU’s renewable energy policy framework 2020-2030 can ensure sustainable bioenergy production and use.

July 2016 - ANNUAL REPORT 2015

BirdLife Europe 2015 highlights

For BirdLife Europe, 2015 has continued to be a year where science, rigorously and objectively analysed, produced knowledge and led us in our efforts to protect biodiversity and nature.

May 2016 - DECLARATION of SMEs on NATURE IN THE EUROPEAN UNION

EU SMEs need Nature Directives 

"We are worried about the Commission’s plans to change the nature laws in the EU. Our good business relies on good nature protection, including nature protected by EU law. Stable, efective and predictable legislation is important for us"

April 2016 - FROM NATURE ALERT TO ACTION

BirdLife Europe review of 'Fitness Check'

The headline findings of the 'Fitness Check' of the Nature Directives, the challenges identified and the steps required to achieve the EU's conservation objectives by 2020.

January 2016 - DELIVERING RENEWABLE ENERGY IN HARMONY WITH NATURE

BirdLife/RSPB Policy Recommendations

With its biodiversity in decline and its wildlife facing a range of threats and pressures, Europe must pursue its energy transition in harmony with nature. Policy frameworks for renewable energy and nature protection must be robust in the 2020s to ensure a transition to a new, truly sustainable energy system.

September 2015 - PROTECTING NATURE IN POWER GRID PLANNING

Recommendations to develop Europe's grid infrastructure

Working in conjunction with partners in the BESTGRID project, BirdLife has produced the second part of a two-part handbook of recommendations for developing Europe's grid infrastructure in co-operation with nature.

(Version Francaise) / (Deutsch Version)

August 2015 - THE KILLING

Our first review of illegal killing of birds in the Mediterranean

The BirdLife Partnership presents this report based on the first ever comprehensive scientific study to quantify the scale and scope of illegal killing across the Mediterranean region. The results are gruesome: an estimated 25 million birds are being illegally killed annually. 

June 2015 - EUROPEAN RED LIST OF BIRDS

Study revealed 13% of bird species are threatened

The European Red List of Birds identifies those species that are threatened with extinction at the regional level – in order that appropriate conservation action can be taken to improve their status.  

June 2015 - HALFWAY THERE?

Mid-term assessment of progress on the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy

The EU Biodiversity Strategy is a landmark in European conservation, and commits the European Commission, the European Parliament and the EU Member States to taking action on all key drivers of biodiversity loss. At this halfway point between 2010 and 2020 we assess progress of the EU towards the EU Biodiversity strategy to 2020. 

June 2015 - MAKE SPACE FOR NATURE

Policy actions to protect nature and people in Europe

Nature underpins our economy and our society; it is central to our health and well-being in both the short- and long-term, yet this is poorly reflected in existing policies and decision-making tools and frameworks. Thus, we need to put nature at the heart of decision-making. 

April 2015 - PITFALLS AND POTENTIALS

The role of bioenergy in the EU Climate & Energy Policy

European Governments are increasingly relying on bioenergy as a cheap way to meet targets for renewable energy. Bioenergy represented 62% of EU’s renewable energy use in 2012. But new evidence on the real climate impacts and other environmental and social impacts of bioenergy has made its use increasingly controversial. These are our recommendations.

May 2015 - ANNUAL REPORT 2014

BirdLife Europe 2014 highlights

BirdLife Europe is a Partnership of nature conservation organisations in 47 countries, including all EU Member States, and a leader in bird conservation. Through its unique local to global approach BirdLife Europe delivers high impact and long term conservation for the benefit of nature and people. 

February 2015 - FIGHTING CLIMATE CHANGE

BirdLife Europe's priorities for EU Climate and Energy Policy

Climate change is a huge threat to wildlife, as well as to human wellbeing, with devastating losses of species and habitats a potential outcome. It is already adding to the rapid, accelerating loss of global biodiversity we see today.