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Naturalness: Area with a comparatively higher degree of naturalness as a result of the lack of or
low level of human-induced disturbance or degradation.

V. Presence of habitats that are critical to endangered, threatened or endemic species.
Importance for threatened, endangered or declining species and/or habitats: Area containing
habitat for the survival and recovery of endangered, threatened, declining species or area with
significant assemblages of such species.

Vulnerability, Fragility, Sensitivity, or Slow recovery: Areas that contain a relatively high proportion
of sensitive habitats, biotopes or species that are functionally fragile (highly susceptible to
degradation or depletion by human activity or by natural events) or with slow recovery.

VI. Cultural representativeness: “The area has a high representative value with respect to
the cultural heritage, due to the existence of environmentally sound traditional activities
integrated with nature which support the well-being of local populations”.

NOTE: This SPA/BD Protocol criterion does not readily find a correspondent in the CBD
criteria for EBSAs, since the CBD is not especially concerned with cultural
representativeness. The SPA Protocol definition of the criterion has limited application in
the identification of EBSAs in the Mediterranean open seas, however it should be taken into
account assessing the value of traditional activities such as fisheries.

Table 3-2 lists the SPA/BD Protocol criteria to be applied to EBSA identification and compares
them with the corresponding CBD criteria, also providing guidance in their application where
correspondence between different sets of criteria is not complete.