The global biodiversity crisis is such that the EU must lead the way and contribute to the COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (Kungming, China, 19 October-1 November 2020), where the post-2020 global framework is to be established, leading to a clear roadmap, ambitious, binding and measurable targets, as well as performance and monitoring indicators.
By an overwhelming majority, the European Parliament's Environment Committee adopted a resolution to this effect, on Tuesday 3 December, (60 votes in favour, none against and 9 abstentions).
MEPs believe that biodiversity deserves a global agreement as ambitious as the Paris Climate Agreement, but they also insist that the EU clean up its own backyard (see EUROPE 12364/7).
The voted text urges the European Commission and EU Member States to commit to "immediate, substantial and additional" efforts in the form of legally binding targets on biodiversity conservation and restoration, to meet EU targets and stop the current trajectory of biodiversity loss.
MEPs want biodiversity objectives to be taken into account in all EU policies. They call for biodiversity to be sufficiently funded in the next EU budget 2021-2027 in order to achieve the objectives of the UN's '2050 Vision of Biodiversity Conservation'. According to them, a minimum 10% of the EU long-term budget should support efforts to improve biodiversity.
The parliamentary committee insists on the need to adopt more sustainable agricultural and forestry practices. It also underlines that the role of urban areas and cities in the preservation of biodiversity should be more thoroughly assessed. The European Parliament vote is scheduled for the January plenary session in Strasbourg. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)