Natura 2000 (N2K) is a network of core breeding and resting sites for rare and threatened species, as well as for some rare natural habitat types which are protected in their own right. It stretches across all 28 EU countries, both on land and at sea. The aim of the network is to ensure the long-term survival of Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats that are listed under the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive. This dataset contains the sites in Belgium.

Top10Vector – Land cover and vegetation is the vector dataset of the land use of unbuilt land areas in Belgium. This data set includes three classes. First class: isolated vegetation. Second class: land cover zones. Third class: linear vegetation. This dataset can be downloaded via the link in 'Access'.

This dataset represents the exact location of active telecommunication cables (verified in 2010) installed in the Belgian Part of the North Sea.

The Royal Decree of 22 May 2019 establishing a marine spatial plan defines 5 nature conservation areas: Special area for conservation 'The Flemish Banks' (Art. 7§1), Special area for conservation 'Vlakte van de Raan' (Art. 7§3), Special protection area for birds - SPA 1 (Art. 7§5.1°), Special protection area for birds - SPA 2 (Art. 7§5.2°), Special protection area for birds - SPA 3 (Art. 7§5.3°). It replaces the 2014 Marine Spatial Plan, which is included for completeness. The Royal Decree of 20 March 2014 establishing a marine spatial plan defines in its Art. 7., six nature conservation sites: two special areas for conservation (Art. 7. §1, Special area for conservation 'Vlaamse Banken' and Art. 7. §3, Special area for conservation 'Trapegeer stroombank'), three special protection zones for birds (Art7§4.1°, SBZ1, Art7§4.2°, SBZ2, Art7§4.3°, SBZ3), and one marine reserve (Art7§8, Marine reserve 'Baai van Heist'). These zones are made available digitally in the resource described by this metadata document. Please refer to the Belgian official gazette (\"Moniteur belge/Belgisch Staatsblad\") for official reference information.

INSPIRE compliant download service for geographic information of marine datasets made available by the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS) in the IDOD (Integrated and Dynamical Oceanographic Database) database.

INSPIRE compliant download service (WFS) for geographic information of the Marine Spatial Plan made available by the Royal Belgian Institute for Natural Sciences (RBINS).

Riparian zones represent transitional areas occurring between land and freshwater ecosystems, characterised by distinctive hydrology, soil and biotic conditions and strongly influenced by the stream water. They provide a wide range of riparian functions (e.g. chemical filtration, flood control, bank stabilization, aquatic life and riparian wildlife support, etc.) and ecosystem services. The Riparian Zones products will support the objectives of several European legal acts and policy initiatives, such as the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, the Habitats and Birds Directives and the Water Framework Directive. Two complementary product groups provide detailed information on the state and characteristics of riparian zones across Belgium: 1. Land Cover / Land Use (LCLU) 2. Green Linear Elements (GLE)

The Royal Decree of 22 May 2019 establishing a marine spatial plan defines in its Art. 11. five dredged material disposal sites (Dredged material disposal site S1, Art. 11 § 1.1°; Dredged material disposal site S2, Art. 11 § 1.2°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Oostende, Art. 11 § 1.3°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Zeebrugge Oost, Art. 11 § 1.4°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Nieuwpoort, Art. 11 § 1.5°). Futhermore, additional zones are defined for the future replacement of dredging areas as defined in Art. 11 §3, §5, §7 and §9. It replaces the 2014 Marine Spatial Plan, which is included for completeness. The Royal Decree of 20 March 2014 establishing a marine spatial plan defines in its Art. 9. five dredged material disposal sites (Dredged material disposal site S1, Art. 9 § 6.1°; Dredged material disposal site S2, Art. 9 § 6.2°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Oostende, Art. 9 § 6.3°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Zeebrugge Oost, Art. 9 § 6.4°; Dredged material disposal site Bruggen en Wegen Nieuwpoort, Art. 9 § 6.5°). These zones are made available digitally in the resource described by this metadata document. Please refer to the Belgian official gazette (\"Moniteur belge/Belgisch Staatsblad\") for official reference information.

The Royal Decree of 22 May 2019 establishing a marine spatial plan defines 11 military use and storage sites for war munition zones: Exercise area for sweeping mines (Buiten Ratel) (Art. 17§1), Exercise area for sweeping mines - NB-01 (Westhinder) (Art. 17§1), Exercise area for sweeping mines - NBH-10 (Wenduine) (Art. 17§1), Exercise area for sweeping mines - QZR 040 (Art. 17§1), Munition destruction area (Art. 17§2), Area for shooting exercises on floating objects (Art. 17§3), Area for exercises in shallow waters (Art. 17§4), Area for shooting exercises from land - big sector (Art. 17§5), Area for shooting exercises from land - medium sector (Art. 17§5), Area for shooting exercises from land - small sector (Art. 17§5), Storage site for war munition Paardenmarkt (Art. 18§1). It replaces the 2014 Marine Spatial Plan, which is included for completeness. The Royal Decree of 20 March 2014 establishing a marine spatial plan defines in its Art. 13. and Art. 14., resp. nine zones for military use and one storage site for war munition: three zones for shooting exercises from land direction sea (Art 13. § 1 small sector, Art 13. § 1 medium sector, Art 13. § 1 large sector), four exercise areas for sweeping mines (Art 13. § 3, Exercise area 1 for sweeping mines, Art 13. § 5, Exercise area 2 for sweeping mines, Art 13. § 9, Exercise area 3 for sweeping mines, Art 13. § 13, Exercise area 4 for sweeping mines), one area for shooting exercises on floating objects (Art 13. § 7), one area for defusing mines (Art 13. § 11) and one zone to safeguard the closed storage site for war munition \"Paardenmarkt\" (Art. 14. § 1). These zones are made available digitally in the resource described by this metadata document. Please refer to the Belgian official gazette (\"Moniteur belge/Belgisch Staatsblad\") for official reference information.

The dataset contains the borders of the Belgian marine waters in the North Sea and the different geographical areas (‘reporting units’) used when reporting in the frame of the the Marine Strategy Framework Directive 2008/56/EC (MSFD) and the Water Framework directive 2000/60/EC (WFD). The ecological status in the frame of WFD is reported for the coastal waters, defined as the one-nautical mile area, while the chemical status needs to be reported for the territorial waters (up to 12 nautical miles). MSFD requires information for the whole area, encompassing the territorial waters and the Belgian Exclusive Economic Zone. For some descriptors, results have been reported separately for the WFD subdivisions during the update of the initial assessment in 2018.