Prior to the Environment Council meeting, which will have to decide on the EU's negotiating position for the 14th Meeting of the Parties (COP 14) to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) on Tuesday 9 October in Luxembourg, WWF called European Environment Ministers to take the lead in these negotiations and to put their own house in order on Friday 5 October.
"All indicators are in red, as human activities are currently driving us into the sixth mass extinction. The EU needs to become a champion for nature protection both locally and globally," warns Sabien Leemans of this NGO.
According to her, "Mainstreaming nature protection into other sectors is crucial and in this respect the EU is failing at home. We just need to look at the CAP proposal currently being discussed, which continues to protect intensive agriculture, a key driver for biodiversity loss".
It is at COP 14 in Egypt (Sharm El Sheikh, 17-19 November) that the parties will decide on the process that will lead to the adoption in 2020 in China (COP 15) of a new global strategic framework to halt and reverse biodiversity loss - which is why the European Parliament Environment Committee has already called on the EU to be ambitious (see EUROPE 12086).
Internally, WWF advocates that the EU redouble its efforts to fully implement its 2020 strategy, and that at the global level, it promote a 'Deal for Nature and People' in 2020 to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2030.
The NGO wants the EU to take the lead in advocating for an ambitious post-2020 framework, with concrete targets, more effective implementation and an accountability mechanism.
WWF emphasizes the need to integrate the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity in all sectors and to include a financial resource mobilisation strategy in the post-2020 framework.
The conclusions of the Environment Council will be finalised on 9 October. In the last draft of the draft conclusions, the text had been slightly modified to be more precise, with regard to the protection of marine biodiversity. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)