Slovenia

Slovenia is a geographically diverse country with an terrestrial area of 20 000 km² and a marine areas of over 200 km². The northern part of the country consists of the Alps, the east of the country is part of the Pannonian plain, with the Karst Plateau between the mountains, plains and the coast. It is bordered by 4 other countries. The highest point is Triglav at 2 864m. Slovenia has a population of 2 million people and a population density of 102.9 people per km².

Protected areas

There are a total of   protected areas in Slovenia,   Natura 2000 sites -   Special Protection Areas (Birds Directive) and   Sites of Community Importance (Habitat Directive) - as well as   sites designated under national laws.

The average size of protected areas in Europe is lower compared to other regions of the world. This largely reflects the high degree of fragmentation of the land in Europe due to urbanisation, infrastructure and general intensification of land use. At a EU level 50% of protected areas have an area of less than 1 km². The 10 largest marine sites account for 68% of the marine area, while the 10 largest land sites account for 41% of the land area covered by protected areas

Natura 2000 sites in Slovenia cover   species and   habitats from the nature directives. The number of species and habitats protected in each site varies depending on the location of the site, the biodiversity in the region, the designation being used, and the features the site is being created to protect. For   sites there is only 1 feature being protected with   sites having more than 20 features.

Protected species

Species protected in Slovenia under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive and under the Birds Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 2 500 species on its list, the Birds Directive has a total of 500 species of wild birds protected.

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

 % of species are considered to be Good

 % of species are considered to be Poor

 % of species are considered to be Bad

 % of species are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Taxa

Protected species composition by Taxa

Protected habitats

Habitats protected in Slovenia under EU law are protected under the Habitats Directive. The Habitats Directive has a total of 233 habitats on its list.

  habitats protected under EU law in Slovenia.

Conservation status: Habitats Directive

 % of habitats are considered to be Good

 % of habitats are considered to be Poor

 % of habitats are considered to be Bad

 % of habitats are considered to be Unknown

Conservation Status by Group

Habitat composition by Group

Ecosystems

Policy

MAES in Slovenia:

Anže Japelj (Slovenian Forestry Institute), Suzana Vurunić (Institute of the Republic of Slovenia for Nature Conservation) and Mateja Šmid Hribar (Research Centre of the Slovenian Academy of Sciences and Arts) established a national Partnership of organizations dealing with ES (SOES) and organized 2 workshops (the 1st workshop was held on March 20, 2018; the 2nd workshop was hled on May 23 2018 and the afternoon part was international with 2 presentations on ESP (Stefan Marzelli from AlpES project and ESP Germany; Jeroen Arends from the ESP, South-East Europe Regional Chapter Lead). More than 20 national stakeholders attended the 2nd workshop and 21 national or international projects focusing on ecosystem services were shortly presented.

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Green infrastructure in Slovenia:

The Environmental Protection Act (2006) regulates the system of environmental protection based on sustainable development principles.

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National Biodiversity strategy for Slovenia:

At the time of the finalization of the synthesis of 5^th national reports of EU Member States (26^th of August 2015), Slovenia had only submitted the Executive Summary of its 5^th national report to the Convention on Biological Diversity. Information from Slovenia is therefore not included in this synthesis. 

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