Stefania Ercole, Valeria Giacanelli, Alessandra Grignetti, Gabriele La Mesa, Daniele De Angelis
The indicator illustrates the trends and conservation status of the over 340 Italian species protected by the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC and is based on the results of the last three Italian reports pursuant to art. 17, coordinated by ISPRA on behalf of MASE and transmitted to the European Commission in 2013, 2019 and 2025. The data from the latest report (referring to the period 2019-2024 and delivered in 2025) are presented in detail, in which the 346 species of community interest present in our territory and in our seas were evaluated (226 animal species and 120 plant species), creating 344 distribution maps and 580 reporting sheets (one for each species in each biogeographical region of presence).
The results show that in 2025, 29% of species are in poor conservation status (SC) and 20% are in bad conservation status, meaning they are in worrying conditions and at risk of extinction. Terrestrial and freshwater fauna is the group with the highest percentage of species in bad SC (22%), followed by terrestrial flora (16%) and marine species (11%).
Comparing the results of the V Report with the previous ones (III Report-2013, IV Report-2019) no improvements in the SC emerge for most species, even if there was an increase in knowledge for marine species. The percentages of change in the SC of the species between IV and V Report show 74% of the assessments in which the SC of the species remains unchanged, 10% in which the SC improves, 11% of assessments in which the SC worsens and a remaining 5% in which the assessments in the two reports are not comparable.
The data presented confirm the urgency of implementing the actions envisaged by the EU Regulation 2024/1991 for the Restoration of Nature and by the European and National Strategies for Biodiversity to 2030, whose targets provide that at least 30% of species and habitats in unfavorable SC improve their status by 2030 or show at least an improvement trend.
The indicator illustrates the conservation status and trends of the animal and plant species of community interest included in Annexes II, IV and V of the Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC, present in our country and in the seas. The indicator is based on reporting pursuant to art. 17 which requires Member States, every 6 years, to draw up a national report that provides updated distribution maps of the species and detailed data and information in a standardized format, useful for evaluating the conservation status and trends in the reference period for each species in each biogeographical region. The indicator shows the results of the latest report delivered by Italy and provides appropriate comparisons with the results of previous reports.
Evaluate the level of implementation and success of the Habitats Directive, showing the conservation status of Italian species and its variations over time, measuring progress towards the targets of the European and National Biodiversity Strategies.
There Habitats Directive it is one of the main pillars of the community policy for nature conservation, implemented in Italy in 1997 with the Presidential Decree Regulation. 8 September 1997 n. 357 (Official Journal 23 October 1997, n. 248, S. O.). The aim of the Directive is "to safeguard biodiversity through the conservation of natural habitats, as well as wild flora and fauna in the European territory of the Member States to which the Treaty applies" (art 2). To achieve this objective, it establishes measures to ensure the maintenance, or restoration, in a Favorable Conservation Status (SCF) of the habitats and species listed in its annexes. The Directive requires surveillance (Article 11) of species and habitats to be implemented through monitoring, and the preparation of national reports on the implementation of its provisions (Article 17).
The European and National Strategies for Biodiversity to 2030 contain specific commitments linked to the SC of species and habitats of community interest, in particular they ask that a deterioration of the SC does not occur and that at least 30% of the species/habitats with unfavorable SC reach a favorable SC by 2030, or at least show a trend of improvement.
EU Regulation 2024/1991 on Nature Restoration of the European Parliament and of the Council of 24/6/2024, which entered into force on 18/8/2024, creates a common legal framework for the restoration of degraded ecosystems, habitats and species across the EU's land territory and seas, building on and complementing existing EU legislation. The Regulation aims to ensure the long-term recovery of biodiversity through the restoration of degraded ecosystems, contribute to the achievement of EU objectives regarding mitigation and adaptation to climate change and neutrality of land degradation, and contribute to compliance with international commitments. The overall goal at EU level is to implement restoration measures on at least 20% of Europe's land and at least 20% of its marine areas by 2030, and on all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.
Following the adoption of the Regulation, all Member States of the European Union, including Italy, are required to develop their own National Recovery Plan (PNR) to illustrate how the country intends to achieve the objectives established by the regulation. States must also monitor progress and report on the effectiveness of restoration interventions based on EU-level biodiversity indicators.
Ercole S., Angelini P., Carnevali L., Casella L., Giacanelli V., Grignetti A., La Mesa G., Nardelli R., Serra L., Stoch F., Tunesi L., Genovesi P. (ed.), 2021. Nature Directive Reports (2013-2018). Summary of the conservation status of species and habitats of community interest and of actions to combat exotic species of EU importance in Italy. ISPRA, Report Series 349/2021.
Ercole S., Giacanelli V., Bacchetta G., Fenu G., Genovesi P. (Eds.), 2016. Manuals for the monitoring of species and habitats of community interest (Directive 92/43/EEC) in Italy: plant species. ISPRA, Manuals and guidelines series, 140/2016.
La Mesa G., Paglialonga A., Tunesi L., 2019. Manuals for the monitoring of species and habitats of community interest (Directive 92/43/EEC and Directive 09/147/EC) in Italy: marine environment. ISPRA, Manuals and guidelines series, 190/2019.
Stoch F., Genovesi P. (Eds.), 2016. Manuals for the monitoring of species and habitats of community interest (Directive 92/43/EEC) in Italy: animal species. ISPRA, Manuals and guidelines series, 141/2016.
https://reportingdirettivahabitat. isprambiente. it/downloads
https://www. mase. gov. it/portale/il-ripristino-della-natura
The limitations are due to the lack of homogeneity in the level of knowledge in the Italian regions and the scarcity of monitoring plans ad hoc long-term, the need to resort to the support of data collected for other purposes and expert judgment in evaluations. Added to these limitations is the difficulty of having to provide data on parameters that are difficult to interpret and quantify (such as those required for the "favorable reference values").
Implementation of coordination between all the subjects involved, implementation of ad hoc monitoring plans, harmonization of field methodologies and improvement of the quality of the data collected.
Data III, IV, V Italian Report pursuant to art 17 can be consulted and downloaded from the ISPRA website https://reportingdirettivahabitat. isprambiente. it/
Complete V Report data (Italy and Member States) downloadable from the Reportnet EU website https://reportnet. europa. eu/public/dataflow/1525
National
2007-2012, 2013-2018, 2019-2024
Pursuant to Article 17 of the Habitats Directive, each Member State must provide a report every 6 years containing the assessment at a national biogeographical level of the conservation status (SC) of all species of community interest present in its territory. In Italy, the data must be collected by regions and autonomous provinces and the report is prepared by ISPRA on mandate from the Ministry of the Environment. The report must provide the updated distribution map of the species and the standardized data useful for evaluating the conservation status and the trend in the reference period for each species in each biogeographical region. In Italy there are 4 biogeographical regions: Alpine (ALP), continental (CON), Mediterranean (MED), Mediterranean marine (MMED). The overall SC ( overall conservation status ) is the synthetic result of the reporting and is obtained through an evaluation process carried out using data from four parameters: range, population, habitat for the species and future prospects. The SC categories are: favorable (FV), unfavorable-inadequate (U1), unfavorable-bad (U2), unknown (XX).
The trend ( overall trend ) is evaluated on the basis of the trend of the parameters relating to the range, population and habitat for the species in the different reporting periods; the trend categories are: increasing, stable, decreasing, unknown. For species with marginal presence in a certain biogeographical region, the compilation of the reporting form is not required.
The reporting involves a standardized methodology that allows comparisons between subsequent cycles, also identifying worsening of the SC, improvements (from U1 to FV, from U2 to U1/FV) or stability conditions when no changes have occurred. The changes in the SC between one reporting cycle and another, however, are not always due to a real improvement/worsening of the status since the reasons for change envisaged by the reporting system, which must be included in the forms together with the assessment of the SC, are numerous, and in particular it is possible to indicate the following causes: genuine change, improved knowledge/more accurate data, use of different methods (including taxonomical change or use of different thresholds), nature of change is unknown, other reasons .
Complete information on the methodologies imposed at European level for reporting is available in the dedicated EIONET portal ( https://cdr. eionet. europa. eu/help/habitats_art17).
The conservation status of the 346 Italian Habitat Directive species (Table 1) is worrying, with 49% of the assessments being in unfavorable SC, and in particular 29% have inadequate SC and 20% bad SC, i. e. In extremely worrying conditions and at risk of extinction (Figure 1). Terrestrial fauna is the group with the highest percentage of species in bad SC (22%), followed by terrestrial flora (16%) and marine species (11%) (Figure 2). The objective set by the Habitats Directive of achieving the favorable SC for all species of community interest is to be considered very distant, as are the targets of the European and National Strategies for Biodiversity for 2030 and of the Regulation for the restoration of Nature.
The trend is negative since comparing the results of the last three reports (2013, 2019 and 2025) there is no overall improvement in the conservation status of the species, but an increase in the percentage of cases in bad SC over time, both for the flora and for the terrestrial fauna, with values of 10-13-16% and 18-17-22% respectively (Figure 3). The situation for marine species has instead undergone a considerable change with apparent improvement, however mainly due to progress in knowledge, and only in very few cases to the achievement of a better condition (unknown SC went from 50% in IIIR to 11% in V, Figure 3).
Analyzing the variations undergone by the SC of each species between IV and V Report (Figure 4) it can be seen that the 63 cases of improvement recorded are counterbalanced by 68 cases of worsening, thus not realizing the expected progress.
Also the data relating to overall trend of the species in the V Report (Table 2) reveal a negative trend: in fact, of the 115 cases with bad SC only 11 show an increasing trend and 20 a stable trend, while 75 are those with a decreasing trend. Even among species with inadequate SC, decreasing trends are highly represented (67 cases out of 171).
| Allegati |
|---|
Headline
Table 1: Number of species reported in the 5th report, along with their respective data sheets and distribution maps (updated 2025) Data source
V report data |
Headline
Table 2: Number of cases across different combinations of conservation status and trend for the species assessed in the 5th report (updated 2025) Data source
ISPRA analysis of data from the V Report Data legend
Conservation Status (CS) Categories: favorable, inadequate, poor, unknown, not assessed. Trend Categories: increasing, stable, decreasing, unknown, not assessed. Biogeographic Regions: Alpine (ALP), Continental (CON), Mediterranean (MED), Marine Mediterranean (MMED). Note
Marginal and occasional species for which an assessment of conservation status and trends is not required are not included in the count. |
Thumbnail
Headline
Figure 1: Conservation status (CS) of the 346 Italian species covered by the Directive assessed in the 5th report pursuant to Article 17 (updated 2025) Data source
ISPRA analysis of data from the V Report Note
For each SC category, the number of assessments and the percentage calculated based on the total number of assessments (reporting forms completed for each species in each biogeographic region where it occurs) are provided. |
Thumbnail
Headline
Figure 2: Conservation status (CS) of the various species groups in the 5th report (updated 2025) Data source
ISPRA analysis of data from the V Report Note
Percentage values calculated based on the number of assessments (reporting forms completed for each species in each biogeographic region where it occurs) |
Thumbnail
Headline
Figure 3: Conservation status of Italian species listed in the Habitats Directive: a comparison of the last three reports Data source
ISPRA analysis of data from the last three Italian reports pursuant to Article 17 Note
Report III, due in 2013, covering the period 2007–2012; Report IV, due in 2019, covering the period 2013–2018; and Report V, due in 2025, covering the period 2019–2024. Percentage values are calculated based on the number of assessments (reporting forms completed for each species in each biogeographic region where it occurs). Species with occasional occurrences are not included in the count. |
Thumbnail
Headline
Figure 4: Changes in conservation status (CS) between the 4th report (2019) and the 5th report (2025) pursuant to Article 17, shown as the number of assessments, both overall for all species and separately for the three main groups Data source
ISPRA analysis based on data from the fourth and fifth reports Data legend
Improved SC: SC changed from U2 to U1/FV or from U1 to FV Unchanged SC: SC remained stable; this includes assessments that remain in SC FV/U1/U2/XX SC worsened: SC changed from U1 to U2 or from FV to U1/U2 SC not comparable: SC changed from XX to FV/U1/U2, or SC changed from FV/U1/U2 to XX; species added to the CKL in the fifth report (new ratings) Note
Changes in the SC do not always correspond to genuine changes resulting from actual improvements or deteriorations during the reporting period. In fact, the reporting system provides for various reasons for change that can be reported in the data sheets along with the SC assessment: genuine change, improved knowledge/more accurate data, use of a different method (including taxonomic changes or the use of different thresholds), nature of change is unknown, other reasons. Species with a marginal presence in a biogeographic region are not included, nor are species removed from the CKL in the V report. Changes in the overall trend are not considered in this analysis. |
Thumbnail
Headline
Figure 5: Percentage change in conservation status (CS) between the 4th report (2019) and the 5th report (2025) pursuant to Article 17 for each species Data source
ISPRA analysis based on data from the fourth and fifth reports Data legend
Improved SC: SC changed from U2 to U1/FV or from U1 to FV Unchanged SC: SC remained stable; this includes assessments that remain in SC FV/U1/U2/XX SC worsened: SC changed from U1 to U2 or from FV to U1/U2 SC not comparable: SC changed from XX to FV/U1/U2, or SC changed from FV/U1/U2 to XX; species added to the CKL in the fifth report (new ratings) Note
Changes in the SC do not always correspond to genuine changes resulting from actual improvements or deteriorations during the reporting period. In fact, the reporting system provides for various reasons for change that can be reported in the data sheets along with the SC assessment: genuine change, improved knowledge/more accurate data, use of a different method (including taxonomic changes or the use of different thresholds), nature of change is unknown, other reasons. The graph does not include species with marginal occurrence in a biogeographic region, nor does it include species removed from the CKL in the fifth report. Changes in the overall trend are not considered in this analysis. |
Thumbnail
Headline
Abstract |
From the results of the latest report it emerges that in Italy there are 346 Habitats Directive species (included in the official checklist pursuant to art. 17 updated to 2025 and shared with the EC) present on the territory and in our seas, in particular: 210 are terrestrial and freshwater animal species, 16 are marine animal species, 118 are terrestrial plant species and 2 marine plant species (Table 1).
To produce the V Italian Report between 2024 and 2025, distributional knowledge was updated and the reporting formats of each species compiled in each biogeographical region of presence, collecting and processing an enormous amount of data through a vast collaboration network and two online data collection systems created ad hoc by ISPRA and SINANET. Overall, 344 distribution maps and 580 reporting forms were produced (Table 1).
The V Report highlights critical conditions for numerous Italian species of community interest, since half of them are in a poor state and in particular the SC was found to be bad in 20% of cases and inadequate in 29% (Figure 1).
Observing the different groups (Figure 2) it can be noted that terrestrial fauna is the one with a greater percentage of species in bad SC (22%), followed by flora (16%) and marine species (11%); while 35% of the flora, 28% of the fauna and 11% of the marine species have inadequate SC.
Comparing the last three reporting cycles (Figure 3) there are no significant improvements in the SC of the species from 2013 to today, the only positive signal is the improvement in knowledge with a general decrease in cases with unknown SC, particularly evident between IV and V Report for marine species.
Analyzing Figure 4, which shows the changes that occurred between IV and V Report in the SC of each species, we observe a situation that does not improve overall since the improvements are counterbalanced by the same number of worsenings, in particular the following are recorded:
-for terrestrial plants an improvement in SC in 10 cases and a worsening in 12,
-for terrestrial animals an improvement in the SC in 47 cases and a worsening in 49,
-for marine species, an improvement in the SC in 2 cases and a worsening in 1, while in 5 cases the SC of the V Report is not comparable with that of the IV (cases that went from unknown to favorable SC).
The data relating to the change were calculated by comparing the SC of each individual species in each biogeographical region of presence in the IV Report with the SC of the V. From this comparison derive the percentages of change in the SC of the species between IV and V Report (Figure 5): in 74% of the assessments the SC of the species remains unchanged (SC which remains FV/U1/U2/XX), in 10% of the assessments an improvement is observed (SC from U2 to U1/FV, from U1 to FV) while in 11% a worsening emerges (SC from U1 to U2, from FV to U1/U2). The remaining 5% includes assessments that are not comparable between the two reports (assessments with SC XX in the IVR changed to FV/U1/U2 in the VR, SC from FV/U1/U2 to XX, new assessments for species entered into the CKL art. 17 in the VR).
The situation relating to overall trend emerged in the V Report (Table 2) shows that:
- cases with bad SC mostly have a decreasing trend (75 out of 115),
- cases with inadequate SC mainly have a stable trend (80 out of 171) or a decrease (67 out of 171),
- cases with favorable SC have mostly stable trends (223 out of 272) and increasing (42 out of 272),
signaling a state of alert precisely for the species in the worst conditions which often show worsening trends, rather than detecting improving trends as required by the strategy targets.
The work carried out over the last 15 years allows us to have a clear picture of the situation of Directive species in Italy, with three repetitions of the assessments of their SC and trends carried out according to European standards. The data show the urgency of implementing programs of active conservation of species and improvement or restoration of habitats. These actions are foreseen by the Nature Restoration Regulation and pursue the achievement of the targets of the European and National Biodiversity Strategies for 2030 and the international commitments on the environment, such as those taken within the framework of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework .