Conservation management planning aims to effectively maintain and restore the favourable conservation status of habitats and species.  At both a European and national level, legislation is in place that supports the implementation and enforcement of regulations that protect the ecological integrity of protected habitats and sites containing protected species.  Currently, the process of implementing conservation management plans and setting site-specific conservation objectives is ongoing for Special Areas of Conservation (SACs) and Special Protected Areas (SPAs) that protect priority habitats and species as listed in the EU Habitats and Birds Directives.  These site-specific conservation objectives aim to define favourable conservation conditions for a particular habitat or species and collectively contribute to the maintenance of those habitats and species at a national level.

To date, 275 of the 440 (63%) SACs and 35 of the 166 (21%) SPAs have site-specific conservation objectives with generic conservation objectives in place for the remaining sites.  

More information on conservation management planning for protected sites can be found here:

https://www.npws.ie/protected-sites/conservation-management-planning/conservation-objectives