On Monday 6 May, European Commissioner for the Environment, Karmenu Vella, who participated in the Metz G7 Environment, called for a fundamental change in society and political leadership at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP 15, China, in 2020), to adopt an ambitious post-2020 framework and save biodiversity, taking science and citizens into account.
According to him, the alarming report by IPBES (Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services) confirming that a global ecological collapse is approaching and the Eurobarometer survey highlighting the growing importance that EU citizens attach to biodiversity and nature “ give the EU a tremendous responsibility and a clear mandate to act”.
The IPBES report “confirms that biodiversity loss is continuing at an unprecedented rate, threatening nature's ability to sustain life on Earth. This puts the ecological crisis on the same footing as climate change” and threatens both the implementation of the Paris Agreement and the UN's sustainable development objectives for 2030, the Commissioner points out on his blog.
According to him, “the IPBES report shows the links between our global challenges. Climate change, biodiversity, food security and soil degradation are interdependent. The report highlights the absolute need for fast and deep transformational change in the way we consume, produce and trade. We need to break the vicious cycle of continued degradation of ecosystems and replace it by a virtuous cycle of ecosystem restoration and preservation”.
Integration of systemic services and green infrastructure. The Commissioner also announced that to this end, the European Commission will shortly be adopting new guidance on integrating ecosystem services into decision-making and on green infrastructure, as part of the Nature Action Plan.
The 'Metz Charter' on Biodiversity adopted by the G7 Environment recognises the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services for people and economies and the role of nature-based solutions for climate change adaptation and mitigation, i.e. reducing greenhouse gas emissions (see other news).
According to the Commissioner, "it will galvanise political commitment to halt the loss of biodiversity and ensure a global agreement for nature and citizens in 2020”.
Within the EU, the latest Eurobarometer on biodiversity shows that the level of understanding of biodiversity has increased in a few years with 71% of citizens saying they have heard this term - including 41% who have heard it and know what it means (+11% compared to 2015, the date of the previous Eurobarometer survey).
And the most significant threats to biodiversity most often mentioned by respondents are air, soil and water pollution (67% of respondents), man-made disasters (63%) and climate change (58%). In addition, two thirds of Europeans fully support the idea that protecting nature is essential to tackle climate change (see EUROPE 12248/11). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)