Plant biodiversity in Europe and its conservation

Europe boasts remarkable plant diversity due to its extensive geographical and ecological gradients, but also the long lasting human transformation. Mountain ranges and islands are a cases of plant diversity, hosting a large amount of endemic and specialised biodiversity. Protecting this biodiversity is a key challenge, as most natural ecosystems face degradation and loss. With almost no untouched nature remaining in Europe, our approach to conservation is affected. In this lecture I discuss a) the distribution of plant diveristy hotspots in Europe and the Mediterranean region, a) the conservation capacity of the Natura 2000 (N2K) network, the world’s largest coordinated protected area network established by the EU, and b) the extent of strictly protected areas across EU countries, where natural processes occur without human interference. After having discussed these arguments, I will present some ley elements to ensure the long term protection of the European plant diversity. Publication History Article published online: 05 March 2026 © 2026. Thieme. All rights reserved. Georg Thieme Verlag KG Oswald-Hesse-Straße 50, 70469 Stuttgart, Germany