Environmental Agency: 2010 Biodiversity Target will not be met
10 October 2007, Belgrade, Serbia. Unless considerable additional efforts can be mobilized, the 2010 biodiversity target of halting biodiversity loss in the pan-European region by 2010 will not be achieved. At the same time, biodiversity decline continues to be a major concern, and pressures from climate change and alien invasive species are increasing.
These are the conclusions of the latest Assessment of the State of Europe’s Environment. The report – published today by the European Environmental Agency at the Ministerial Conference ‘Environment for Europe’ in Belgrade – confirms concerns that Europe’s government are not taking all necessary actions to meet the 2010 biodiversity target, agreed at the previous conference in Kiev four years ago.
More than 700 European species are under threat from extinction, including a number of iconic species such as the Iberian lynx and the snow leopard, as a result of habitat destruction, degradation and disturbance. 43% of European bird species have an unfavourable conservation status. The main pressures on biodiversity continue to be urban sprawl, infrastructure development, acidification, eutrophication, desertification, overexploitation, and intensification of agriculture and land abandonment.
Ecological networks now cover 17% of the total EU-25 land area, but there is little information about the status of these networks, and monitoring biodiversity in general remains a concern. Though agricultural policy increasingly incorporates biodiversity conservation measures, biodiversity on agricultural land continues to decline. Sustainable forest management has improved the status of Europe’s forests.
“We need to further strengthen the will to act on environmental issues across the pan-European region. Ministers have designated the Belgrade conference to be a ‘conference of delivery’. We need continued cooperation as well as targeted financial and technical support”, comments Jacqueline McGlade, Executive Director of the EEA.
The Countdown 2010 Readiness Assessment shows what action pan-European governments have taken towards the 2010 biodiversity target.
