There are a number of EU policy areas that could have a direct or indirect impact on nature and biodiversity, and without effective application of cross-compliance principle, conservation efforts cannot be fully successful. The publication does not make an attempt to cover all those areas but rather to present in detail the most relevant to nature protection, such as Environmental Impact Assessments (EIAs), Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA), Ecological networks and the case of the Natura 2000 network. Special attention is given to the most influential policy in the EU since its establishment: Common Agricultural Policy and its second pillar: Rural Development. The publication contains theoretical sections under each topic, practical exercises and a section listing further reading and references to various sources of information, such as websites, presentations, guidelines, etc.

The guidelines aim at helping CSOs to increase their understanding of EU nature-relevant legislation and the role they can play in its implementation. This publication has been translated into Macedonian, Montenegrin and Serbian to enable all interested CSOs to make a difference at the local and the national level. It was published within the project “EU Support to Partnership Actions EU Environmental Policies and Strategies in South Eastern Europe: Capacity Building for the Implementation of EU Environmental Policies and Strategies in Macedonia, Montenegro and Serbia”, with the financial support of European Commission, DG Enlargement.

The hard copy can be obtained from IUCN SEE office or the offices of project partners – Ecologists’ Movement of Macedonia, Bird Protection and Study Society of Serbia, and Greens of Montenegro.

For more information please contact Veronika Ferdinandova, Biodiversity Project Officer at IUCN Programme Office for South Eastern Europe.