During the review period, Belgium stepped up very significantly its efforts to protect nature and biodiversity. A comprehensive assessment of biodiversity and inventory of species was completed. Protected areas were expanded and now cover 11.6% of the country. Wallonia designated new nature parks and other protected areas, the Brussels-Capital Region set up a “green and blue network”, and Flanders established a legal framework for development of the Flemish Ecological Network, of which about 70% has been designated. Nearly 13% of the national territory was designated as part of Natura 2000, providing new opportunities to combat fragmentation of habitats, expand protected areas and further involve stakeholders (farmers, forest owners) in nature conservation.