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IUCN welcomes the new EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030. In view of the world post COVID-19, it is essential that EU Member States embrace this Strategy and adopt all necessary measures to ensure the targets are achieved. We also need to define further specific actions in consultation with stakeholders, to guarantee the central role for nature, that will lead to an effective and sustainable recovery and a resilient future society.

IUCN, and its European Regional Office, stands in solidarity with all who have been affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Europe has been hit particularly hard, with measures to control the spread of the virus now in place across the continent. We hope that we will soon be witness to a marked and lasting improvement of the situation, knowing that in order for that to happen we must all do our part. This is a crisis demanding collective action.

In December 2019, the EU has launched the long-awaited European Green Deal, the plan to tackle the profound environmental crisis we are living in. IUCN welcomes this promising proposal, and encourages all actors to do their bit to make it happen.

The conservation of nature is essential for the future of humanity, which requires thriving biodiversity to support a healthy and habitable planet. Well-governed, well-designed and well-managed protected areas are our most effective tools for conserving nature, and these important natural spaces provide a wide range of ecological, socio-economic, cultural and spiritual benefits to our communities.