Commission takes steps to halt loss of biodiversity

Brussels, 28 March 2001

The European Commission today adopted a series of action plans to integrate the protection of biodiversity into EU agricultural, fishery, environment and development and co-operation policies. Rich biodiversity is important as it provides the raw materials that our society needs. It is essential for the long-term sustainability of agriculture and fisheries and it is the basis for many industrial processes and the production of new medicines. The aim of the action plans is to stop losses in wildlife, ecosystems, varieties of crops, domestic animals and fish. The plans define concrete actions and measures and specify measurable targets to ensure a reversal of the current trend. The plans stem from the European Community Biodiversity Strategy adopted in 1998 where the Commission promised to spell out precisely how it would achieve the objectives of the strategy, and implement the Convention on Biological Diversity adopted in Rio in 1992.

Commenting on the action plans, Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said: "These action plans demonstrate the Commission's commitment to policy integration and sustainable development. They represent stepping stones on the way to agreement on a sustainable development strategy at the European Council in Göteborg in June." According to Agriculture and Fisheries Commissioner Franz Fischler "Rich biodiveristy is a part of the world's capital on which local communities rely. We have to halt the loss of plants and animals as society can not survive without these resources. A loss of biodiversity is a loss of economic opportunity, also for farmers and fishermen". Development and Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Poul Nielson pointed out that: "The major part of the biodiversity of our planet lies in developing countries. The destruction of biodiversity narrows the options available for future generations, in particular in these countries, and reduces the capacity for ecosystems to adapt to changing situations."

The threat

During recent decades and in spite of past and current efforts by the EU and its Member States the reduction and loss of biodiversity in Europe has accelerated dramatically. Some examples:

64 plants endemic to Europe have become extinct and 45 percent of butterflies, 38 percent of bird species and some 5 percent of mollusc species are already considered as threatened in the wild.
Intense agricultural practices have led to the loss of wetlands by around 60 percent.
Meanwhile 97 breeds of domestic animals have become extinct while almost 30 percent of the surviving breeds are currently at risk.
The current state of some of our fisheries resources is also alarming due to excessive fishing.

The problem is by no means confined to Europe globally over 11,000 species of plants and animals face a high risk of extinction in the near future. The fate of these species is just an indicator of the situation of the precariousness of the wider ecosystems to which they belong.

The response

Traditional natural conservation policies are not enough to preserve the world's biodiversity. Specific protection measures for key species and habitats are essential but are not, by themselves, a satisfactory response to the problem of biodiversity loss. Therefore, the Commission presented the Community Biodiversity Strategy in 1998. The strategy defines a framework for action and focuses on integration of biodiveristy concerns into relevant sectoral policies, such as agriculture, fisheries, conservation of natural resources and economic and development cooperation. The action plans now adopted outline the necessary steps to tackle the loss in biodiversity in each area. The plans also establishes how to identify appropriate indicators for monitoring and evaluating performance in the implementation of the actions and measures envisaged and their effectiveness.

The action plan on conservation of natural resources demonstrates the Commission's determination to full implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives and to provide support for the conservation and sustainable use of areas designated under these Directives. Even more importantly, it spells out how it intends to use general environment instruments, such as the water framework directive, the strategy for integrated coastal zone management and environment impact assessment, to help preserve biodiversity across the whole of the Union.

The plan also indicates specific environment initiatives for monitoring and assessing the overall effects on biodiversity from integration efforts in other sectors (i.e. agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture and forestry).

Finally the action plan focuses on enhancing opportunities and synergies with relevant international agreements and processes⁽¹⁾. Coherence in their development and implementation is needed to prevent potential threats to and maximise benefits for biodiversity.

The action plan on agriculture starts with an analysis of the interrelations between agriculture and biological diversity. It is clear that the scale, the scope and the nature of production techniques can have substantial impacts on the landscape an on natural habitats. Intensive farming practices seem particularly prone to cause negative effects. On the other hands, many landscape and site-specific environmental characteristics reflect a rich farming heritage. The action plan indicates seven priorities to achieve reciprocal benefits between farming activities and biodiversity. These areas are:

Ensuring a reasoned intensification in agricultural practices.
Maintaining an economically viable and socially acceptable agricultural activity, in particular in biodiversity-rich areas, where these activities have been weakened.
Using the potential of agri-environmental measures for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity.
Ensuring the existence of an ecological infrastructure at the level of the whole territory.
Supporting actions aimed at the enhancement of genetic diversity in agriculture and in the maintenance of local and traditional varieties and breeds.
Encouraging the marketing of landraces and varieties that are naturally adapted to the local and regional conditions.
Preventing the abundance and spreading of non-native species.

The Action Plan also offers many suggestions for a broader reflection on the Common Agriculture Policy, a reflection that becomes more and more necessary.

The action plan on fisheries deals with threats due to both conventional fisheries and aquaculture activities. The measures in this short to medium term action plan have been identified at three levels:

the conservation and sustainable use of fish stocks,
the protection of non-target species, habitats and ecosystems from fishing activities
preventing aquaculture having an impact on different ecosystems.

For the first two levels the required measures include a reduction in fisheries activity, the application of technical measures, as well as the strengthening of research and monitoring. For aquaculture, measures seek to reduce the environmental impact of aquaculture, limit the introduction of alien invasive species, secure animal health and strengthen research to enhance knowledge in this area. Continuous research and monitoring will be crucial to the success of the measures identified in the Action Plan.

These measures are entirely coherent with the approach taken in the recently adopted Fisheries and Environment Integration Communication under the Cardiff process and the Green Paper on the Future of the Common Fisheries Policy.

The action plan on economic and development co-operation focus on poverty eradication as biodiversity and development are interlinked. The major part and most threatened areas of global biodiversity lie in the forests, wetlands and coral reefs of developing countries which all too often are being destroyed in a self-defeating dash for short-term development. Poor people are particularly vulnerable to natural resource degradation and rely on access to a huge variety of plants to cope with adverse conditions. The EU has a responsibility to assist these countries in order to preserve the natural resources essential to the wellbeing of their societies.

The action plan points to the need for improved links with EU Member States and international development co-operation agencies, programmes and institutions in the Member States and at international level (e.g. World Bank and the Global Environment Facility). It also considers the need for building up capacity to manage development and environment issues within the Commission.

The action plan lists "guiding principles" that need to be followed (including the ecosystem approach, stakeholder participation, and integration into wider policy frameworks) and sets out the actions to be taken in three inter-linked contexts:

in intensive production systems (agriculture, livestock, aquaculture, tree plantations, etc), with attention to their life-support functions and services, maintenance of genetic diversity, and caution regarding alien invasive species and living modified organisms;
in production systems involving non-domesticated species (forestry, wildlife, fisheries, etc) where the focus should be on maintaining an array of ecosystems and habitats in productive landscapes; and
in protected areas, where stronger links are needed between conservation action and sustainable development strategies.

The action plan emphasises the importance of improving the use of Strategic Environmental Assessments and Environmental Impact Assessments, and focuses on support for building up capacity in this field.

The Commission will establish a Biodiversity Expert Group with participation of the Member States as well as NGOs and other stakeholders to enhance complementarity and synergies with National Biodiversity Strategies developed or being developed by the Member States. Furthermore, the Action plans will be a basis for future policy dialogue with developing countries.

Upon adoption, Commissioners Wallström, Fischler and Nielson stressed that "lasting solutions are only possible if we manage to integrate biodiversity into the relevant sectoral policies and instruments. The Biodiversity Action Plans are a key tool for this."

The full text of the action plans can be found at the following web addresses:

http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/biodiversity/index_en.htm

and

http://biodiversity-chm.eea.eu.int

⁽¹⁾^{In particular, the CITES, Climate Change, Desertification, Barcelona and OSPAR Conventions, the Cartagena and Montreal Protocols, WTO/TRIPS, FAO and the international process on forests}



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