Conservation Biology​​​ in the Boreal
HOW DOES NEWFOUNDLAND and LABRADOR COMPARE??​
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​Europe currently has more than 105,000 terrestrial protected areas in the European Union and cooperating countries (14). As a whole, they have more protected areas than any other region in the world. As seen in other countries, Europe’s protected areas vary in size, shape, and distribution but most are relatively small, where nearly 90% of sites are only 1000 hectares. Europe’s large number of protected areas is a result of the pressures associated with increasing land use from agriculture, transport, and urban development and the desire to protect Europe’s unique landscape.
Europe's Terrestrial Protected Areas
​What's Protecting Europe?
The Environmental European Agency (EEA) is an agency of the European Union that consists of 32 member countries. Their goal is to provide correct, independent information to the EU and the community about the environment. It is then used to develop, adopt, implement, and evaluate environmental policy (13).
The European Commission is made up of 40 branches including one dedicated to protecting, preserving, and improving the environment for present and future generations. Their tasks include proposing policies that will maximize protection for the environment in the European Union as well as enforcing Member States to correctly apply EU environmental law (12).
Europarc Federation is an independent, non-governmental organization that represents 400 members in 35 countries in Europe including government departments and NGO’s. By bringing these environmental organizations together, Europarc is able to facilitate international co-operation for every issue associated with protected area management (16).
Natura 2000 is an EUwide network of nature protection areas and is considered unique to the world. It was created under the 1992 Habitats Directive, whose goal is to to assure long-term protection of areas that contain valuable and threatened species and habitats. This network accounts for a total of 26,000 protected areas (including marine environments) and covers 18% of EU’s land area (15).
Europe as a whole, has more protected areas than any other place in the world!

However, most of these areas are only about 1000 hectares.
This is due to Europe's lands being fragmented and has led to protected areas being created in the remaining fragments.

You can see from the map that there is less % of land dedicated to national parks than there is to the other 5 terrestrial protected area types combined in Europe.
​Europe's Distribution of Protected Areas 
Europe's Example
Ancient Beech Forests of Germany, World Heritage site
The European beech (Fagus sylvatica) was considered one of the most important trees in Central Europe and at one point covered 40% of Europe. Now, these sites cover a total of about 4,400 hectares of European beech forests in Germany and (30,000 in the Carpathians) and was designated a World Heritage Site in 2011. Some of the reasons why it has been protected is that it is one of the few sites in Europe that are the best conserved, most natural, and the closest to beech dominant primary forest left within Europe. As well, it represents examples of on-going post-glacial biological and ecological evolution of terrestrial ecosystems and allows us to learn how this type of tree thrived in various environmental conditions.
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These areas lie within national parks or reserves and are managed under national law. It contains 11 species of the genus Fagus (beech) that have been exploited by humans in the past for wood products, fuel, and indirectly for agriculture and settlement that destroyed a lot of the beech forests. It has become a global priority to conserve European beech forest ecosystems because of this decline (19).
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Arial View of Ancient Beech forests in Germany
Retrieved From:
http://www.hellomagazine.com/travel/201110216372/unesco-europe-natural-wonders-photo-gallery/
Beech Forest in Germany
Retrieved From:
Map of Europe's Protected Areas
(European Environment Agency, 2012)
Source: travel.nationalgeographic.com