Background All European Member States are required to report on their implementation of the Habitats Directive to the European Commission. This constitutes a major challenge, since for every habitat type it is necessary to deliver accurate estimates of coverage, distribution range, and status of several variables describing important functions and structures. Both current state and temporal changes need to be estimated. In Sweden, the government needs to evaluate the conservation status for 89 habitat types within up to three biogeographical regions. This means a total of 187 separate habitat type assessments need to be conducted accurately. Objectives The objective of this demonstration project is to develop a cost-effective national monitoring system adapted for northern European conditions that can be used to implement the EU Habitats Directive. This project will demonstrate how auxiliary information can be used in connection with random sampling to improve the accuracy of the habitat assessments also for sparse habitats. Furthermore, the project will show how the habitat monitoring system can be integrated in the framework of existing landscape level monitoring programmes that exist today in many European countries.