EU shapes post-2010 biodiversity policy

Europe will continue to lose biodiversity unless EU policy takes into account the economic value of ecosystem services, the European Commission said on Tuesday at a major biodiversity conference in Athens.

The final findings of an EU study on the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity should be used as "starting point" for designing a post-2010 biodiversity policy framework, the commission said. The EU will also work to improve existing indicators, commission president Jose Manuel Barroso told delegates.

Mr Barroso also backed calls for an international scientific platform for biodiversity to mirror the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (EE 30/05/08 http://www.endseurope.com/15146), especially since "the drivers for biodiversity loss are more complex than for climate change, and the direct impacts are harder to measure".

In March European leaders called for the adoption of a new EU target for the conservation of biodiversity beyond 2010 by the middle of next year at the latest (EE 03/03/09 http://www.endseurope.com/20815). The commission has already predicted that the EU's current goal of halting biodiversity loss by the 2010 is "highly unlikely" to be met (EE 16/12/08 http://www.endseurope.com/20226).

Delegates at the Athens conference devised a seven-point plan to be developed by EU policymakers when setting a post-2010 target. One priority is to further develop Europe's Natura 2000 network of protected areas, according to the plan (EE 12/12/08 http://www.endseurope.com/17245).

The commission called for a post-2010 policy framework to be based on a set of biodiversity indicators to be presented by the European Environment Agency (EEA) in May. EEA executive director Jacqueline McGade gave a preview of the agency's findings at the conference.

The indicators will show that if the current decline of European ecosystems is not halted, food and water supplies will be adversely affected, resulting in higher operating costs that will need to be factored in by governments and businesses in their economic planning.

Follow-up: European Commission press release

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/09/649&format=HTML

plus Mr Barroso's speech

http://europa.eu/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=SPEECH/09/197&format=HTML

and conference page

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/biodiversity/conference/index_en.htm.

See also EEA press release

http://www.eea.europa.eu/highlights/europe-needs-better-ecosystem-accounting,

Ms McGlade's speech

http://www.eea.europa.eu/pressroom/speeches/status-of-european-biodiversity

and EU biodiversity webpage

http://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature_biodiversity/index_en.htm

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