Brussels, 01/06/2010 (Agence Europe) - In this year 2010, which has been designated the international year for bio-diversity, it is only natural that the European Commission should choose biodiversity as the main theme of the European Green Week, kicked off by Environment Commissioner Janez Potoènik on Tuesday 1 June, in Brussels.
“The world needs a reality check on the importance of biodiversity loss. I hope Green Week 2010 will provide that. This conference is an ideal forum for key players in the environment field to come together and pass a message about the need for a radical change in our approach to the crisis facing biodiversity”, the commissioner said.
More than 300 people are expected to take part in this annual event. The European Commission and the European Environment Agency have presented two new instruments that should allow the EU to fight effectively against the decline in biodiversity.
One such instrument is BISE, the Biodiversity Information System for Europe, a new web portal centralising information about European biodiversity and nature (data on the state of the environment and ecosystems, on the threats to which these are exposed, on research into biodiversity conducted at EU level, and on the state of biodiversity in the various member states in order to encourage cooperation between them). The other tool is the establishment of a reference level providing policymakers with a starting point for measuring the state of biodiversity within the EU in order to encourage cooperation, contain loss of biodiversity and accurately define developments (this new tool provides a framework to articulate linkages between species numbers, habitats status and ecosystem services, and uses facts and figures that are scientifically robust and have been validated and/or peer reviewed in the member states).
When Europe failed to attain the objective of stopping the decline in biodiversity in 2010 and when the European Council in March defined a new vision for 2050 with an intermediary goal in 2020, the commissioner warned that “continuing failure to meet goals on biodiversity loss will be truly catastrophic”. In order to be sound, the post-2010 strategy must be built around a set of sub-targets, focusing on key ecosystems, driving forces, pressures and responses, he explained. He went on to say these sub-targets will include the integration and sustainable use of ecosystem services, overexploitation, fragmentation, invasive species, nature conservation, ecosystem-based approaches such as green infrastructure, and a sub-target for the EU's contribution to global diversity. He said that new targets had to be agreed a global level and a new action plan prepared for discussion at international level. The Commissioner expressed the hope that the international community would agree ambitious targets in Nagayo (at the next Conference of the Parties to the Convention on biological diversity).
In the 30 sessions and workshops during Green Week, participants will have the opportunity to discuss EU policies for post-2010, the growing pressure on eco-systems, possible solutions to these problems and the impact of the loss of biodiversity on the economy and health. (AN./transl.jl/rt)