Alarmed by the global biodiversity crisis, considered as dramatic as the climate crisis, in light of the IPBES assessment, MEPs on Thursday 16 January called on the EU to set binding targets to curb this disaster.
This, they believe, will put it in a strong position to work towards an ambitious and binding post-2020 global strategic framework at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15, Kunming, 19 October to1 November), an agreement that is, for biodiversity, what the Paris Agreement is for climate.
For the EU, as at global level, Parliament calls for binding post-2020 targets with clear timetables and monitoring mechanisms to ensure the effectiveness of measures to preserve biodiversity and ecosystems, on the understanding that the 2020 targets will not be met and that half the planet must be restored by 2050, as planned by the UN.
The ambitious resolution, which Parliament adopted by a show of hands, is the result of a compromise between the EPP, S&D, Renew Europe, Greens/EFA, ECR and GUE/NGL groups, which was largely validated in plenary session (see EUROPE 12403/15). The text has even been strengthened.
Regarding the EU’s 2030 strategy, which is expected to be proposed by March (possibly on 26 February) as part of the European Green Deal, Parliament calls on the European Commission to “present an ambitious and comprehensive biodiversity strategy, setting legally binding targets for the EU and its Member States”.
These targets should include specific objectives to achieve at least 30% of protected terrestrial and marine species and restore at least 30% of degraded ecosystems by 2030, says the resolution, as wanted by the Greens/EFA and in line with the UN draft.
Reducing the EU's footprint on global biodiversity will have to be at the heart of the 2030 strategy, says the resolution. Parliament recognises that the major loss of biodiversity is directly attributable to the widespread use of systemic broad-spectrum herbicides such as glyphosate. However, the ban on glyphosate requested by the GUE/NGL was not voted on.
Similarly, the S&D group’s amendment calling for the recognition that the Common Agricultural Policy contributes to the loss of biodiversity and therefore calling for an ambitious reform of the CAP to ensure the protection of biodiversity was not retained.
A Greens/EFA and GUE/NGL amendment that was voted on calls on the Commission and the Member States at COP15 to seek a global moratorium on the release of GMOs resulting from genetic forcing in nature, including field trials, to prevent the premature release of these new technologies, and to respect the precautionary principle. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)