Politics and Nature Consevation

"State of nature in the EU: biodiversity still being eroded, but some local improvements observed"

That's the headline introducing the latest reports on wildlife and habitats across the European Union.  If we are genuinely interested in and concerned about our wildlife we need to get political.

"The majority of habitats and species in Europe have an unfavourable conservation status despite significant improvements for many species in recent years, according to a new technical report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) today. The report presents the most comprehensive European overview on the conservation status and trends of the habitats and species covered by the European Union’s (EU) two nature directives. Building on the reports submitted by EU member states, the report contributes to policy discussions in the context of the EU 2020 Biodiversity Strategy."

These two reports show the invaluable work that the EU has been doing over recent years and the importance of the continuation of the work into the future.

Follow these links for more information:

State of Nature in EU
SOER 2015 — The European environment — state and outlook 2015

And get the full reports here:

Download Synthesis Report

Download Technical Report

The synthesis report informs future European environmental policy in general and its implementation between 2015 and 2020 in particular. It includes a reflection on the European environment in a global context, as well as chapters summarising the state of, trends in, and prospects for the environment in Europe.

Foreword

The European environment | State and outlook 2015

The European Union has provided global environmental leadership for

some 40 years. This report synthesises the information resulting from

four decades of implementation of a well-defined and ambitious EU policy

agenda. It represents the tip of the knowledge available to EEA and its

network, Eionet.

The overall findings point to successes in reducing environmental pressures.

These achievements are especially remarkable when seen in the context of

vastly changed European and global settings over the past decades. Without

a strong policy agenda, the large growth of the economy over this period

would have resulted in much stronger impacts on ecosystems and human

health. The EU has demonstrated that well designed, binding policies work

and deliver huge benefits.

In the 7th Environment Action Programme, 'Living well, within the limits

of our planet', the EU formulates an engaging vision of the future to 2050:

a low carbon society, a green, circular economy and resilient ecosystems, as

the basis for citizens' well-being. Yet, looking ahead, this report, like its 2010

predecessor, highlights major challenges linked to unsustainable systems

of production and consumption and their long-term, often complex,

and cumulative impacts on ecosystems and people's health. In addition,

globalisation links Europeans to the rest of the world through a number

of systems that enable the two-way flow of people, finance, materials and

ideas.

This has brought us many benefits alongside concerns around the

environmental impacts of our linear buy-use-dispose economy, our

untenable dependency on many natural resources, an ecological footprint

that exceeds the planet's capacity, external environmental impacts on

poorer countries, and unequal distribution of the socio-ecological benefits

from economic globalisation. Achieving the EU 2050 vision remains far from

self-evident. Indeed the very idea of what it means to live within planetary

limits is something that we have a hard time grasping.

What is clear, however, is that transforming key systems such as the

transport, energy, housing and food systems lies at the heart of long‑term

remedies. We will need to find ways to make them fundamentally

sustainable, by decarbonising them, making them much more resource

efficient and making them compatible with ecosystem resilience. Also

relevant is the redesign of the systems that have steered these provisioning

systems and have created unsustainable lock-ins: finance, fiscal, health,

legal and education.

The EU is leading the way through policies such as the 7th Environment

Action Programme, the 2030 Climate and Energy package, the Europe 2020

Strategy and the Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme. These

and other policies share similar goals and in different ways seek to balance

social, economic and environmental considerations. Implementing and

strengthening them smartly can help to push science and technological

frontiers in Europe, create jobs and enhance competitiveness, while

common approaches to solving shared problems make full economic sense.

As a knowledge actor, the EEA and its partners are responding to these

challenges by designing a new knowledge agenda that links supporting

policy implementation to an increased understanding of how to achieve

more systemic long-term objectives. This is guided by innovations that

break out of silo-thinking, facilitate information sharing and integration and

provide new indicators to enable policymakers to compare economic, social

and environmental performance. Last but not least, foresight and other

methods will be increasingly used to inform the pathways towards 2050.

The opportunities and challenges are equally huge. They require common

purpose, commitments, efforts, ethics and investments from all of us.

Starting in 2015, we have 35 years to ensure that the children born today

will live on a sustainable planet by 2050. This may seem like a distant future,

but many of the decisions we make today will decide whether and how we

are going to deliver on this societal project. I hope that the content of the

SOER 2015 will support everyone who is looking for evidence, understanding

and motivation.

Hans Bruyninckx,

Executive Director