Introduction

> 10 October 07

The Kyiv Resolution on Biodiversity reinforced the objective to halt the loss of biodiversity at all levels by 2010. The 53 countries in the pan-European region which adopted the resolution made a commitment to achieve that target by taking nine concerted actions which were prioritized into seven target areas. The Council of the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy subsequently adopted action plans for these seven target areas. Annex 1 shows trends in relation to those target areas for which indicators were included in the Second Global Biodiversity Outlook.

This document aims to provide participants at the Sixth Environment for Europe Ministerial Conference in Belgrade, 10–12 October 2007, with an overview of progress towards meeting the 2010 biodiversity target in the pan-European region with reference to these target areas. It also identifies the major challenges in achieving the 2010 target.

In the process of preparing this document, the Countdown 2010 carried out two pan-European surveys to determine the extent to which countries had taken certain basic steps towards meeting their 2010 commitment and to assess the opinion of nature conservation actors on how their countries were translating that commitment into action. The first survey – the Countdown 2010 Readiness Assessment – posed four questions:

1. Has a national commitment to achieve the 2010 target been explicitly confirmed in each country?
2. Has an assessment been undertaken of the actions that will be necessary to achieve the 2010 target?
3. Have the necessary 2010 actions been formulated and adopted?
4. Is progress towards meeting the 2010 being measures and are biodiversity monitoring and indicators in place?

Of the 53 countries surveyed, 21 responded to the questionnaire. In these 21 countries, three-quarters of the governments have publicly confirmed their commitment to achieving the 2010 target in their own countries. However, only four countries have prepared an assessment, although in most of the other countries an assessment is planned or in preparation. In only two countries has some form of 2010 action plan been prepared, although again this is planned or in preparation in most of the other countries. With regard to monitoring progress towards achieving the 2010 target, three countries have a programme in place, while in two-thirds of the other countries this is planned. The results of the survey are appended to this document in Annex 2.

The second survey – the Countdown 2010 Online Survey – targeted persons who are actively involved in nature conservation and natural resource management and have a good understanding of developments in their countries. The survey attracted 94 responses from 28 pan-European countries. An important signal from the survey is that 53% of the respondents believe that their country’s commitment to the 2010 biodiversity target is either poor or negligible. It is also worth highlighting the responses to two other questions:

How likely is it that your country will reach the 2010 biodiversity target?

How is your country performing with regard to the following biodiversity issues?

The detailed results of the survey are appended to this document in Annex 3.

An important step for the 2010 process was the European Commission (EC) Communication Halting the Loss of Biodiversity by 2010 – and Beyond, which was adopted in May 2006. The Communication outlined the extent of the challenge and reviewed the adequacy of the EU response to date. On the basis of this analysis, the Commission identified four key policy areas for intensified action (biodiversity in the EU, the EU and global biodiversity, biodiversity and climate change, and the knowledge base) and also 10 priority objectives with four key supporting measures. These policy areas, priority objectives and supporting measures were then elaborated into an action plan with 46 targets and about 150 specific actions, with the responsibilities for carrying out each action specified at the Community level and/or the Member State level.

The Commission should be applauded for preparing this analysis and action plan, which represents an important step forward in defining the actions and responsibilities that are a prerequisite for the achievement of the 2010 target in the EU. However, it must be emphasized that implementing the action plan is a major challenge. Many of the actions cannot be implemented by the Commission alone, so that securing agreement with the EU Member States will be far from easy. Moreover, in many cases the Commission has limited powers to compel the Member States to implement many of the actions that fall under their responsibility, and ensuring that the necessary funding at both Community and Member State level will be made available will inevitably involve difficult negotiations. It would therefore be overoptimistic to expect that many of the actions will be fully implemented by 2010 – and, of course, the actions only cover 27 of the pan-European states.

The following sections summarize progress on achieving the seven concerted actions as adopted in the Kyiv Resolution on Biodiversity.

About this page

This document is part of the Countdown 2010 Readiness Assessment 2007. Download the entire study in English or Russian or read the chapters online.

Pan-European Progress Towards Achieving the 2010 Biodiversity Target
Introduction
Forests and Biodiversity
Agriculture and Biodiversity
The Pan-European Ecological Network
Invasive Alien Species
Financing Biodiversity
Biodiversity Monitoring and Indicators
Public Participation and Awareness
Additional Challenges

Annex 1: Status and trends of 2010 indicators
Annex 2: C2010 Readiness Assessment Questionnaire
Annex 3: Online Survey on the 2010 Biodiversity Target
Annex 4: Recommendations for high nature value farmland
Annex 5: SEBI2010 Indicators