Europe’s nature still mown down by political inaction

Posted on October, 02 2015

The Mid-Term Review of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 shows that no significant progress has been made

Brussels, Belgium –– The Mid-Term Review of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020, released today by the European Commission, shows that no significant progress has been made in the last years to halt the loss of biodiversity and restore ecosystems. Insufficient implementation and enforcement of existing legislation and the increasing pressure from agriculture are identified as the main causes of nature loss (1).

The EU Strategy endorsed by EU Member States in 2011 includes six main targets to be met to guarantee Europe stops losing animal and plant species that are vital to ensure our livelihoods and sustainable development on the continent and globally.

After four years, for all but one of the six targets, progress has been insufficient. For some, like on agriculture and forestry, no significant progress is visible at all. Political action on these issues is highly inadequate. Recently in the UK, the government has been taken to court by WWF and other NGOs (2) because of their failure to work with the agricultural sector to tackle diffuse pollution, which is undermining the restoration of nature.

Thanks to the EU’s Birds and Habitats Directives, the conservation status of many habitats and species have improved across Europe. We have witnessed the recovery of threatened species like the brown bear, the wolf, the beaver and the otter. The benefits for nature, people and economy emanating from it have greatly increased (3). This shows that the existing legal framework is effective and that it only needs sound and rigorous implementation.

Genevieve Pons Deladrière, Director of the WWF European Policy Office said:

“Few days ago in New York we were glad to hear First Vice-President’s Timmermans’s commitment to turn the sustainable development goals into strong political actions. Since Earth Summit in 1992, biodiversity conservation has been at the heart of the sustainable development agenda. Today’s Mid-Term review of the EU Biodiversity Strategy should be seen as an opportunity to invigorate biodiversity conservation in Europe and globally.”

Martina Mlinaric, Senior Policy Officer, Biodiversity & Water at WWF European Policy Office said:

“The Commission must use its power to make Member States implement and enforce the Birds and Habitats Directives and fix other policies on energy and transport infrastructure, as well as on agriculture. Intensive agriculture, as one of the root causes of biodiversity loss should be seriously addressed: food production depends on nature and needs to contribute to its preservation not to its disappearance.”

Keep Nature Alive

WWF is currently running an international campaign called Keep Nature Alive to save the EU Nature Directives. The EU Commission is currently assessing the need to revise the directives. The e-action is available here: http://www.wwf.eu/keepnaturealive/

The campaign is part of a coalition called Nature Alert (link #NatureAlert) together with a group of NGOs across Europe (BirdLife, the European Environmental Bureau, Friends of the Earth Europe). Thanks to this campaign, more than 500,000 joined our call to participate in the EU Public Consultation and tell the EU Commission to defend EU Nature Directives. This is the highest number ever reached in the history of the European Union.

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1) The State of Nature in the EU:

Only 23% of animal and plant species protected under the Habitats Directive are considered to be in a favourable conservation status; while 60% are unfavourable.
For terrestrial systems “agriculture” (especially pesticides and fertilisation) and “human-induced modifications of natural conditions” (e.g. changes to the flow and physical changes to water bodies, disruption of connectivity, water abstraction from ground water) are the most prominent problems identified for all three groups (birds, other species and habitats). This assessment is consistent with that done under the Water Framework Directive, where agriculture and hydromorphology have been identified as the main pressures affecting water bodies.

http://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/PDF/?uri=CELEX:52015DC0219&from=EN

(2) WWF UK press release, 27 August 2015, “UK government faces legal challenge after failing to protect some of England’s most precious rivers”: http://www.wwf.org.uk/about_wwf/press_centre/?unewsid=7662

(3) EC factsheet - http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/natura2000/financing/docs/Economic%20Benefits%20Factsheet.pdf

Aquatic vegetation on the Danube. Danube Delta, Romania.