Story | 19 Out, 2020

State of nature indicates urgent need to better resource nature conservation

Although the State of Nature in the EU report, released by the European Environment Agency and published simultaneously with the European Commission’s State of Nature Report, shows some positive developments in conservation efforts, we are not far from where we were in 2015.

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Photo: Photo by Zdeněk Macháček on Unsplash

The report, that covers the period from 2013 to 2018, is the most comprehensive overview of the state of nature in the EU. “The findings of this report are clear: We need to step up efforts to halt biodiversity loss, and focus on a full and effective implementation of the EU nature legislation,” said Luc Bas, Director of the IUCN European Regional Office in Brussels in 2015, in response to the previous State of Nature Report. And the same can be stated today.

While the number and area of sites protected under the Natura 2000 network have increased over the last 6 years, covering 18% of the EU’s land and 10% of marine area, most protected habitats and species are in a bad conservation status and continue to decline, as is evidenced by the results of European Red Lists. According to the report, intensive agriculture, urban sprawl and unsustainable forestry activities are the greatest threats for habitats and species. Other reported pressures are pollution of air, water and soil, together with illegal harvesting and unsustainable hunting and fishing.

The EU-level assessment indicates that just 47% of all bird species have a good population status (down by 5% from 2015) and that only 15% of the habitat assessments show good conservation status, compared with 16% in 2015. This is in line with the IUCN European Red List, which indicates that 22.7% assessed species are threatened with extinction in Europe. Over a quarter (27%) of species assessments indicate good conservation status, 4% more compared to 2015. Forest habitats show the highest proportion of improving trends among the assessments (13%). The Natura 2000 network played a crucial role in restoring the conservation status of protected habitats and species. In fact, since 2015, the marine network has doubled in surface area (from 4% to 10%).

Despite strong efforts and some positive results mainly at national and regional level (like the implementation of habitat protection or restoration, improvements in knowledge, monitoring and awareness), it’s clear that the implementation of the EU’s Birds and Habitats Directives remains crucial to improve the conservation status of Europe’s species and habitats.

The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 (core pillar of the EU Green Deal), will put Europe’s biodiversity on the right path to recovery, with benefits for people and the planet. Later on this week the European Member States are expected to fully endorse this Strategy and its objectives: this is a must to move ahead swiftly towards the achievement of our biodiversity targets.