The European Commission created the European Natura 2000 Award in 2014 to increase the profile of exemplary projects in the Natura 2000 network.
In order to make the experiences of the winners and finalists from the year 2018 available to the network, these projects were examined for their success factors. The resulting Benchmarking Report identifies recurring characteristics of successful nature conservation projects and lists many best practices as recommendations for other projects.
The report is aimed primarily at the Natura 2000 community in order to encourage the exchange of innovative approaches. In this way, it addresses both the project teams in this year's competition and future applicants.