Protecting at least 30% of Europe’s land and seas, 10% of which would be strictly protected, and devoting at least 10% of agricultural land to landscapes of high biodiversity value: the EU’s 2030 biodiversity strategy is laudable, but it lacks the financial means for this ambition, according to the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).
Neither the European Recovery Plan nor the EU’s draft Multiannual Financial Framework (MFF) 2021-2027 contain any evidence of full, effective and coherent integration of biodiversity, the Committee points out in an opinion adopted at the end of September.
It sees this as a worrying sign of a new gap between words and actions. The release of €20 billion per year is mentioned, but without any details on how the amount is calculated or how this budget should be covered.
However, the EESC, like the Court of Auditors, believes that biodiversity protection should not be economically borne by farmers and forest owners, and is therefore in favour of a separate funding line at EU level.
Given the failure of policies to halt and reverse the decline in biodiversity and restore ecosystems, it wants the EU to take the lead at the COP15 of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity (Kunming, 2021). (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)