Europe 2011 - The biogeographical regions dataset contains the official delineations used in the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and for the EMERALD Network set up under the Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats (Bern Convention)
Biogeographical boundaries were obtained from the EU Member States and from the Emerald Network countries. These were merged together to produce a European wide map of the biogeographical regions independent of political boundaries.
A number of the regions were updated during the work under Article 17 of the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC) and in 2010 the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention adopted a number of changes according to progress in the setting-up of the Emerald Network.
Improved boundaries for the following countries: Armenia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russian Federation, Slovakia, Sweden.
The scale varies inside the dataset. Some regions, e.g. in EU countries, are 1:1 000 000 while other regions are poorer, i.e. 1:10 000 000.