In Europe, 80 per cent of natural habitats are in poor condition
Environment — di Andrea Barolini
A report by the European Environment Agency captures the bleak state of natural habitats across the Old Continent.
In Europe, 80 per cent of natural habitats are in poor condition
A report by the European Environment Agency captures the bleak state of natural habitats across the Old Continent.
Eighty-one per cent of natural habitats in Europe are in poor condition. This is the finding of a report by the European Environment Agency (EEA), entitled "State of nature in Europe", which underlines the need to better preserve the land in order to protect biodiversity and ensure the wellbeing of the population. According to the document, a progressive deterioration of the situation has been recorded over the past thirteen years. Between 2007 and 2012, the share of natural habitats in conditions described as "poor" stood at "only" 77 per cent — a figure that has since risen by four percentage points in the period 2013–2018.
📢How healthy is our #nature #EUBiodiversity? Our Executive Director Hans Bruyninckx presents the findings of the 🦆 #EUStateofNature report 🌿this afternoon at #EUGreenWeek at 16.00 CEST– you can follow it LIVE via our EEA Facebook page ⏩facebook.com/European.Envir…
Grasslands, dunes and bogs are the habitats under most pressure
Grasslands, dunes, and marshes and lowland bogs show a marked deteriorating trend, while forests record the greatest improving trends. Compared with the previous reference period, the percentage of habitats in poor conservation status has increased by six per cent. As for marine regions, many assessments in the report record an "unknown" conservation status, reflecting a general lack of data on species.
"Our assessment," commented Hans Bruyninckx, Executive Director of the EEA, "shows that safeguarding the good status and resilience of nature in Europe, as well as citizens' wellbeing, requires radical changes in the way we produce and consume food, in the way we manage and exploit forests, and in the way we build cities. These efforts must be accompanied by better implementation and enforcement of conservation policies, by special attention to nature restoration, and by increasingly decisive climate action, particularly in the transport and energy sectors."
Fewer than half of bird species in "good" condition
Human activities, pollution and urban sprawl have had serious consequences above all for certain species. Fewer than half of birds (47 per cent) are currently in conditions judged to be "good" — a figure five per cent lower than in the period 2007–2012. At the same time, over the past six years the percentage of bird species in poor or bad condition has increased by 7 per cent, reaching 39 per cent of the total. By contrast, reptiles and vascular plants — such as the sand lizard, the horseshoe whip snake, agrimony or great yellow gentian — have the highest percentage of "good" conservation status (35 per cent).
Time is up: EU misses 2020 biodiversity targets by a long shot, says EEA. New report confirms that the #Baltic is nowhere near meeting key 2020 biodiversity targets: bit.ly/35aO6Lk
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According to Virginijus Sinkevičius, Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, "this report is the most comprehensive assessment of the state of health of nature ever undertaken in the European Union and makes it very clear that the loss of the fundamental life-support system has not yet been halted. It is urgent to honour the commitments made under the new biodiversity strategy in order to reverse the decline for the benefit of nature, people, the climate and the economy." The Green Deal should have laid some foundations in this regard, but translating European policies into concrete action always depends on the choices of individual governments.
So, for example, on climate, while the European Parliament has called for the adoption of a climate law that sets more ambitious targets for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, heads of state and government decided to postpone the final decision by several months, despite the demands of the Fridays for Future movement. Science, however, says that we have no time left. A broad agreement was also reached within the framework of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on the use of pesticides: the plan is to allocate 20 per cent of the national envelope of direct payments to incentives for green farming practices and for the regulation of chemical pesticides. But the share remains negligible. And the agreement will only be definitively approved in 2021.