EU increasing its ambition for biodiversity
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Due to the upcoming UN biodiversity summit, the next 12 months have been hailed as the year of biodiversity. As part of the commitment to nature, the European Commission is preparing legislation to protect 30 percent of land and sea area in the European Union countries. Global action for biodiversity will be discussed at the UN summit in China in May this year.
The summit will take place at a critical moment for nature in the world. Scientists warn that on a global scale, one million out of eight million species are threatened with extinction.
In Europe, the latest State of Nature report, published in October 2020, warned that biodiversity was critically deteriorating. The report, compiled by the European Environment Agency (EEA), showed that the situation of over 60 percent of species is disturbing or bad. Fish and amphibians are most at risk. The European Commission intends to tackle this with a new biodiversity strategy unveiled last year, which aims to unlock €20 billion a year for nature conservation activities.
Its goal is to provide legal protection to 30 percent of land and sea by 2030. However, only 14 of the 27 EU Member States signed up to this target at the January One Planet Summit.
