The Declaration on Conservation of Flora, Fauna and Their Habitats adopted by the European Commission for Europe at its 43rd session, stresses the willingness of UN/ECE governments to preserve living natural resources in the interests of present and future generations by maintaining essential ecological processes and life-support systems; preserving genetic diversity; and ensuring sustainable utilization of species and ecosystems. It also provides for the compatibility of economic activities with natural functioning of ecological systems. It further constructs a framework for concerted efforts to conserve flora and fauna particularly threatened and migratory species and their habitats.
The European Network of Areas of Special Conservation Interest (ASCI) otherwise known as the Emerald Network was first launched in June 1989 when the Standing Committee of the Bern Convention, in response to an increasing need to protect natural habitats, held a meeting exclusively devoted to habitat conservation within the Convention. The establishment of the Network started with the adoption of Resolution No. 3 (1996), in which the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention resolved to "set up a network (Emerald Network) which would include the Areas of Special Conservation Interest designated following its Recommendation No. 16".