Prime Butterfly Areas of Europe: an initial selection of priority sites for conservation

The Red Data Book of European Butterflies, published in 1999, showed that butterflies have declined
seriously across Europe and that 71 of the 576 species are threatened (12% of the total) either because of
their extreme rarity or rapid decline. Many more species were shown to be declining in substantial parts of
their range. A follow up project was conducted in 2002–3 to identify Prime Butterfly Areas (PBAs) in
Europe where conservation should be targeted as a priority. Due to constraints of time and resources, this
concentrated on identifying the most important (prime) areas for 34 target species, using a network of
national compilers. The book gives details of 431 areas covering 1.8% of the land surface of Europe, and
shows that target butterflies are declining in one quarter of PBAs, indicating that breeding habitats are
continuing to deteriorate even though many are protected by national designation. Chief threats are from
agricultural intensification, afforestation, abandonment of traditional practices, and isolation. We make
nine recommendations: (1) Produce detailed descriptions of the PBAs within each country and protect all
PBAs under national law; (2) Protect PBAs under relevant international EU law (e.g. EU Habitats and
Species Directive); (3) Provide adequate protection of PBAs in non EU countries; (4) Ensure sound habitat
management within PBAs and sympathetic management in surrounding areas; (5) Take measures to
conserve the wider environment and whole landscapes within and surrounding PBAs in order to sustain
viable metapopulations; (6) Monitor populations of target species and conduct research to identify
appropriate habitat management techniques. (7) Revise pan-European legislation to take account of the
new information provided in the Red Data Book of European butterflies (e.g. Bern Convention and the EU
Habitats and Species Directive); (8) Conduct a more comprehensive review of Important Butterfly Areas in
Europe as soon as possible; (9) Keep the list of Prime Butterfly Areas up-to-date (e.g. via the internet).