Brussels, 06/06/2014 (Agence Europe) - The Commission is planning to propose a “No Net Loss” biodiversity initiative and has just launched an online public consultation on this subject, which will run until 26 September. It wishes to collect as many views as it can on the potential details and scope of an initiative of this kind, which could take inspiration from the legislation of certain member states (such as France and Germany) which have already adopted this objective.
All interested parties - citizens, public authorities, representatives of industry and NGOs - are called upon to submit their contributions on ways of guaranteeing, at EU level, that the impact of the loss of biodiversity is avoided, minimised when it cannot be avoided, or is the subject of compensation.
The Commission also wishes to sound out the public on the scope of this initiative, on the biodiversity loss factors and economic sectors to include, on the compensation details and on instruments to be used for European policy.
This initiative is provided for in the EU biodiversity strategy, which aims to halt the decline in biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystems and to restore these as much as possible by 2020. The challenge is a considerable one, as nearly 25% of animal species in Europe are threatened with extinction, whilst most of the continent's ecosystems have already been degraded. (AN)