Over recent decades, humanity has benefited enormously from development, which has enriched our lives. However, much of this development has been associated with unprecedented loss of biodiversity, with losses occurring at 100 to 1000 times the normal rate.

Biodiversity, the sheer variety of life on earth, comprising ecosystems, species and genes, is essential to economic prosperity, security, health and other aspects of our daily life. Halting and reversing biodiversity loss is therefore imperative.

The EU has made significant commitments in this regard. In 2001, at the Göteborg European Council, the EU set itself the ambitious target of halting biodiversity loss by 2010; and in 2006, the European Commission adopted a Communication on ‘Halting Biodiversity Loss by 2010 – and Beyond: Sustaining ecosystem services for human well-being’. This Communication underlined the importance of biodiversity protection as a pre-requisite for sustainable development, and set out a detailed EU Biodiversity Action Plan to achieve this. Yet, despite these efforts, to date, the EU failed to reach the 2010 biodiversity target. The failure was due to a combination of factors including, inadequate implementation of EU nature conservation legislation, insufficient funds for biodiversity protection, insufficient integration of biodiversity concerns in other policy areas and also new emerging threats such as climate change.

In this context, the Commission has recently unveiled its blueprint for a renewed action to halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, setting out the EU’s long-term vision of protection, valuing and restoring EU biodiversity and ecosystem services by 2050.

This strategy, entitled ‘Our life, insurance, our natural capital: An EU biodiversity strategy to 2020’, consists of six ambitious, yet realistic priority targets, together with accompanying actions in order to help the EU to reach the 2020 target. The first step will be to ensure the full implementation of existing EU nature conservation legislation and proper implementation and management of the Natura 2000 network of protected areas. The EU will have to improve and restore ecosystems and ecosystem services wherever possible, notably by incorporating “green infrastructure” in spatial planning. Besides, it will also be essential to ensure the sustainability of the EU’s agriculture, forestry and fisheries activities. Controlling invasive species will also be very important to stop growing biodiversity loss in the EU. Finally, the EU has to step up its contribution to concerted global action to avert biodiversity loss.

Achieving the objectives of this strategy will depend on the availability and efficient use of financial resources. The Commission is therefore considering the development and use of innovative financing mechanisms, including market-based instruments, through which the external costs of consumption and production activities on the environment could be internalised. In its new strategy, the Commission proposes to expand economic incentive to the private sector, and to use it in the context of green infrastructure investment.

The six targets set out in the strategy are essential, yet will not be sufficient on their own to enable the EU to reach its 2020 headline target. The full implementation of existing EU environmental legislation in areas such as waste, chemicals, air, and water is imperative. Meeting the EU targets requires a mix of EU, national and sub-national action. This strategy has been sent to the European Parliament and Council of the EU for discussion and endorsement.

Francine Caruana is Executive, EU Policy & Legislation, MEUSAC