title: Biodiversity funds and conservation needs in the EU under climate change.
abstract: Despite ambitious biodiversity policy goals, less than a fifth of the European Union's (EU) legally protected species and habitats show a favorable conservation status. The recent EU biodiversity strategy recognizes that climate change adds to the challenge of halting biodiversity loss, and that an optimal distribution of financial resources is needed. Here, we analyze recent EU biodiversity funding from a climate change perspective. We compare the allocation of funds to the distribution of both current conservation priorities (within and beyond Natura 2000) and future conservation needs at the level of NUTS-2 regions, using modelled bird distributions as indicators of conservation value. We find that funding is reasonably well aligned with current conservation efforts but poorly fit with future needs under climate change, indicating obstacles for implementing adaptation measures. We suggest revising EU biodiversity funding instruments for the 2014-2020 budget period to better account for potential climate change impacts on biodiversity.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Environment and Sustainability, European Commission Joint Research Centre, Ispra, Italy.
authors.forename: Tobias
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Lung
authors.affiliation: Metapopulation Research Group, Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. ; Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, University of Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Laura
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Meller
authors.affiliation: Metapopulation Research Group, Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland. ; Institute for Environmental Studies, Amsterdam Global Change Institute, VU University Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Astrid J A
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: van Teeffelen
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Alpine Ecology, University of Joseph Fourier, Grenoble, France.
authors.forename: Wilfried
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Thuiller
authors.affiliation: Metapopulation Research Group, Department of Biosciences, University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Mar
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cabeza
keywords: Biodiversity conservation funding; Birds; Climate change adaptation; Ensemble forecasting; Europe; Retention area; Species distribution