Expectations were high in terms of commitments to protect biodiversity and a sense of urgency was evident at the opening of the informal Environment EU Council meeting on Wednesday 30 September in Berlin to tackle the crisis of the disappearance of valuable species and habitats both in the European Union and globally. This, learning from the lessons of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“We know from scientific research across the globe that humans themselves are increasing the risk of future pandemics by destroying nature. Good nature conservation policy, on the other hand, is also a key preventive health measure. It is important to me that the EU sets a good example on this issue and that the world pays far more attention to biodiversity conservation”, said German Environment Minister Svenja Schulze at the opening of the meeting, which coincides with the UN Biodiversity Summit (see EUROPE 12570/8).
Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius said the EU's biodiversity strategy for 2030 was “very ambitious yet achievable” and that it was “very important to maintain the level of ambition and to maintain the political momentum for implementing it in the world”.
Luxembourg's Green Minister Carole Dieschbourg, for her part, spoke of “a unique opportunity to stop biodiversity loss and to reach an ambitious agreement next year at the COP15”, with clear objectives and follow-up mechanisms.
Svenja Schulze and the President of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, will take part by videoconference in the UN Summit on Wednesday evening. Objective: to accelerate action and raise the ambition for the development of the post-2020 global framework to be adopted in May 2021 at the 15th Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (COP15, Kunming, China).
This framework and its effective implementation needs to put nature on the path to recovery by 2030 to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
The EU has already signalled its support for raising global ambition by joining world leaders' political commitment to nature on 28 September (see EUROPE 12557/4). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)