Brussels, 08/10/2010 (Agence Europe) - Herman Van Rompuy, President of the European Council, is calling on the EU to inspire global action at the UN conference on biodiversity in Nagoya, Japan, on 18-29 October and calls on the whole of the planet to put biodiversity as one of its multilateral priorities.
On Friday 8 October, Herman van Rompuy said the EU takes care of nature and the environment, with EU policies, budgets and legislation and what Europeans want to do is to inspire global action. He said the recent oil slicks in the Gulf of Mexico and the shocking images of toxic, red mud in Hungary were powerful reminders of the need to protect nature at global level.
He said that at Nagoya the world should agree on targets, strategies and action to save biodiversity as a matter of solidarity and moral duty, but also for the incalculable economic benefits provided by nature. Reason enough to protect the environment, not to mention the wealth provided by the natural world in terms of food, tourism and research.
Van Rompuy made his statements by video from a country park in Genk, Belgium, at an event to prepare for Nagoya, calling for a leap forward and a doubling of efforts. The conclusions of a report published on the same day by the Commission confirm, if anyone could be in any doubt, that the EU has not met the target it set itself of stemming the loss of biodiversity by 2010.
The report assesses the 2006 action biodiversity action plan and shows that despite some progress, biodiversity is still under threat in Europe due to a combination of changes in soil usage, pollution, invasive new species and climate change.
There are a few reasons to be cheerful, like the extension of the Natura 2000 network of protected natural habitats that now cover 18% of the EU land mass (26,000 sites), expanding the scope of the Life+ environment fund to take greater account of the aspects of projects that favour the protection of species, and the new EU directive in support of the marine environment strategy that encourages the protection of sea and inland water ecosystems. (A.N./transl.fl)