Signature of the Guttland Musel COPID;
Credit: MECDD
On Friday 9 July 2021, Luxembourg's Ministry of the Environment, Climate and Sustainable Development confirmed that Minister Carole Dieschbourg signed the collaboration charter of the Natura 2000 Guttland Musel Steering Committee (COPIL).
The signing ceremony took place on the site of the operation of organic farming of Alex Mehlen in Manternach. The Guttland Musel will be chaired by Jean-Paul Jost, mayor of the municipality of Schuttrange.
This COPIL sterring committee thus becomes the 6th to be set up after those of the Anciens sites miniers, Éislek, Atert-Warkdall, Mëllerdall (Mullerthal) and the Mamer-Äischdall-Gréngewald, etc., whose collaboration charters were signed in 2018 and 2019.
The 14 Natura 2000 zones of the Natura 2000 “Guttland Musel” Steering Committee have an extraordinary biodiversity, characterised mainly by their dry lawns, dry masonry walls, old oak groves, colonies of bats and numerous rivers and wetlands, as well as their natural, historical and cultural heritage. To ensure the sustainable management of these multifunctional spaces, with the development of very diverse and heterogeneous activities such as agriculture, tourism or recreational and sports activities, it is essential to involve all the main actors in the sustainable management of these sites.
The main objective of the Natura 2000 Steering Committee (COPIL) is thus to create a regional, dynamic and proactive platform, allowing better involvement of local, municipal and regional actors, in order to promote the maintenance of biodiversity while taking into account ecological, economic, social, cultural and regional requirements.
The creation of the COPIL is a concrete implementation of the new law on the protection of nature of July 18, 2018. It is thus planned to create 8 Natura 2000 steering committees in Luxembourg.
The Natura 2000 network
Natura 2000 is a community network of nature protection areas created under the 1992 Habitats Directive. This network also includes areas designated under the Birds Directive and aims to ensure the long-term survival of the most valuable and endangered bird species and habitats in Europe. Natura 2000 thus plays a key role in protecting the biodiversity of the European Union and the Natura 2000 network is even the largest network of protected areas in the world.
In Luxembourg, the Natura 2000 network currently covers 27.13% of the country's surface and covers 70,171 ha. The Natura 2000 network includes 48 Habitats zones (41,588 ha) and 18 Birds zones (41,893 ha) which overlap in certain places.
Natura 2000 Steering Committees - a regional approach to better involve local actors
The “Guttland Musel” COPIL will monitor the implementation of measures in Natura 2000 sites and will allow better coordination of the actions of local actors with those of the administrations, as well as the facilitation of the implementation of contractual measures.
The COPIL will also be the platform to discuss and plan the implementation of the Water Framework Directive (WFD), for all the rivers of the municipalities that are part of the Steering Committee. The advantage will indeed be to have all the regional and municipal players concerned around a table.
