The dataset on Natura 2000 sites was created in 2014 by Cogea for the European Marine Observation and Data Network. It is entirely based on spatial data from the European Environmental Agency (EEA), plus additional info, links and selected EEA data joined to the feature attributes, as well as a calculation by Cogea of marine and coastal location of features. It is available for viewing and download on EMODnet - Human Activities web portal (www.emodnet-humanactivities.eu). Natura 2000 is an ecological network composed of sites designated under the Birds Directive (Special Protection Areas, SPAs) and the Habitats Directive (Sites of Community Importance, SCIs, and Special Areas of Conservation, SACs). The dataset covers the whole EU. Following the United Kingdom’s withdrawal from the EU on 31 January 2020, it ceased to be part of the EEA’s institutional networks and governance. In the webmap the EEA dataset has been filtered by Cogea to show only (i) marine sites, i.e. sites with a marine area percentage higher than 0 (as calculated by the EEA) and (ii) sites that, even if not identified as marine by the EEA, intersect the EEA coastline or that are within a distance of 1 km from the coastline (using a 1 km inner buffer from the EEA coastline). In both cases the COAST_MAR field value=1. The EEA coastline dataset is available at https://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/data/eea-coastline-for-analysis-2. Compared with the previous version, this one includes the updated dataset 'Natura 2000 End 2020', published by the EEA in July 2021. For further information (e.g. biogeographic region, directive, habitats, sites, impact, management, species and metadata) please visit the EEA's website hosting the Natura 2000 tabular data.

This metadata corresponds to the EUNIS Coastal habitat types, distribution based on vegetation plot data dataset. Coastal habitats are those above spring high tide limit (or above mean water level in non-tidal waters) occupying coastal features and characterised by their proximity to the sea, including coastal dunes and wooded coastal dunes, beaches and cliffs. Includes free-draining supralittoral habitats adjacent to marine habitats which are normally only very rarely subject to any type of salt water, in as much as they may be inhabited predominantly by terrestrial species, strandlines characterised by terrestrial invertebrates and moist and wet coastal dune slacks and dune-slack pools. Supralittoral sands and wracks may be found also in marine habitats (M). Excludes supralittoral rock pools and habitats, the splash zone immediately above the the mean water line, as well the spray zone and zone subject to sporadic inundation with salt water in as much as it may be inhabited predominantly by marine species, which are included in marine (M). The verified coastal habitat samples used are derived from the Braun-Blanquet database (http://www.sci.muni.cz/botany/vegsci/braun_blanquet.php?lang=en) which is a centralised database of vegetation plots and comprises copies of national and regional databases using a unified taxonomic reference database. The geographic extent of the distribution data are all European countries except Armenia and Azerbaijan. The dataset is provided both in Geodatabase and Geopackage formats.

This metadata corresponds to the EUNIS Littoral biogenic habitat (salt marshes) types, predicted distribution of habitat suitability dataset. Littoral habitats are those formed by animals such as worms and mussels or plants (salt marshes). The verified littoral biogenic habitat samples used are derived from the Braun-Blanquet database (http://www.sci.muni.cz/botany/vegsci/braun_blanquet.php?lang=en) which is a centralised database of vegetation plots and comprises copies of national and regional databases using a unified taxonomic reference database. The geographic extent of the distribution data are all European countries except Armenia and Azerbaijan. The modelled suitability for EUNIS saltmarsh habitat types is an indication of where conditions are favourable for the habitat type based on sample plot data (Braun-Blanquet database) and the Maxent software package. The modelled suitability map may be used as a proxy for the geographical distribution of the habitat type. However, note that it is not representing the actual distribution of the habitat type. As predictors for the suitabilty modelling not only Climate and Soil parameters have been taken into account, but also so-called RS-EVB's, Remote Sensing-enabled Essential Biodiversity Variables like Landuse, Vegetation height, Phenology, LAI(Leave Area Index) and Population density. Because the EBV's are restricted by the extent of the Remote Sensing data (EEA38 countries and the United Kingdom) the modelling result does also not go beyond this boundary. The dataset is provided both in Geodatabase and Geopackage formats. The Training map files show the modelled suitable distribution, omitting the 10% of occurrence records in the least suitable environment under the assumption that they are not representative of the overall suitable habitat distribution. The 10 percentile training presence is an arbitrary threshold which omits all regions with habitat suitability lower than the suitability values for the lowest 10% of occurrence records.

This metadata corresponds to the EUNIS Littoral biogenic habitat types (salt marshes), distribution based on vegetation plot data dataset. Littoral biogenic habitats (commonly known as salt marshes) are formed by animals such as worms and mussels or plants. The verified saltmarsh habitat samples used are derived from the Braun-Blanquet database (http://www.sci.muni.cz/botany/vegsci/braun_blanquet.php?lang=en) which is a centralised database of vegetation plots and comprises copies of national and regional databases using a unified taxonomic reference database. The geographic extent of the distribution data are all European countries except Armenia and Azerbaijan. The dataset is provided both in Geodatabase and Geopackage formats.