An ongoing decline of the European Pond turtle, Emys orbicularis and the Fire-bellied toad, Bombina bombina, is now documented throughout the North European lowlands. Additionally, the decline of the Great crested newt Triturus cristatus is recognised in Estonia, Finland, Germany and Denmark and is suspected in Poland and Lithuania.

Based on population genetics theories, the long term goal of this project is that each surviving population of these species reaches a size of at least 500 adults. However, today very few turtle populations meet this criterion as most of them are between 10 and 50 adults. Thus the short term goal of at least the slow growing turtle populations is 50 to 100 individuals. If the available habitat is restricted (e.g. within intensively-used landscapes), the criterion can only be met by creating new habitats, and in some extremely small populations of E. orbicularis in Germany and Poland the only option is to rear and release turtles.

During a terminated B. bombina LIFE project (Consolidation of B. bombina in Denmark) and in two ongoing LIFE projects (Protection of T. cristatus in the eastern Baltic region) and (Management of B. bombina in the Baltic region), there is considerable knowledge available for the design and improvement of pond landscapes of high quality for amphibians. With basic experience on turtle conservation existing already in Lithuania, Poland and Germany, there is a solid foundation for the implementation of protective measures on herpetological

sites of European interest and to develop a concept of active protection of sites of high herpetological diversity in the North European lowlands. There will be a transfer of knowledge concerning pond projects for the conservation of amphibians and small genetically eroded amphibian populations from projects in Denmark, Estonia, and Germany to Lithuania and Poland. Furthermore, meta-population concepts and genetic strategies developed for amphibian conservation in Denmark, Estonia and Germany will be applied and modified to turtle conservation in Lithuania, Germany and Poland. Knowledge on the conservation and biology of the European Pond turtle will be transferred between regions in Lithuania, Germany and Poland, and from these 3 countries, which have the largest turtle populations of the north European lowlands, knowledge will be distributed to the edge distribution areas of Latvia and Denmark. The active protection of aquatic habitats of E. orbicularis, B. bombina and T. cristatus will also support a number of annex IV amphibian species on the same sites.