In December 2012, for the first time in the history of the Network, the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention officially adopted as Emerald sites, 37 areas in Switzerland.

Since 8 December 2017, five countries, Belarus, Georgia, Norway, Switzerland and Ukraine, have officially adopted Emerald sites on their territories. These sites have successfully passed the biogeographical assessment for their sufficiency, as foreseen in Phase II of the Network constitution process. National authorities in the countries are now considering the management and conservation measures they need to put in place for these sites. They equally continue identifying additional areas suitable to join the Network on their territories.

List of officially adopted Emerald sites (last updated in November 2017)

In addition, the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention regularly nominates officially as “Candidate Emerald sites” a number of sites proposed by all countries currently working on the establishment of the Emerald Network (7 countries from Eastern Europe and the South Caucasus, 5 countries from the West Balkans, Norway and Morocco). The official lists of candidate Emerald sites and adopted Emerald sites are therefore regularly updated, after each annual meeting of the Standing Committee to the Bern Convention.

List of officially nominated candidate Emerald sites (last updated in November 2017)