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Published: 18 Oct 2010
World leaders and policymakers are gathering
at a major conference in Japan to debate
how to halt global biodiversity loss. At
this 10th Conference
of the Parties (COP-10), the European Environment
Agency is presenting its assessments on
Europe’s biodiversity, including its new
report on the EU 2010 Biodiversity Baseline.
The European Union made
a commitment in 2001 to halt biodiversity
loss on its territory by 2010. The following
year, hundreds of countries, signatories
to the Convention on Biological Diversity
(CBD), committed themselves to reduce biodiversity
loss significantly in the world by 2010.
It is now clear that both targets have been
missed.
The 10th Conference
of the Parties (COP-10) to the CBD opened
its doors today in Nagoya, Japan, where
the international community, including the
EU, will be striving to agree on a post-2010
policy framework. The global discussions
in Nagoya and the EU position in these negotiations
will play a key role in the new EU biodiversity
strategy, expected to be finalised by the
end of 2010.
Complementing the EEA's
recently published report 'Assessing biodiversity
in Europe' and the short-assessment series
'10 messages for 2010', the EU 2010 Biodiversity
Baseline provides policymakers with a starting
point for measuring the state of biodiversity
within the EU and unveiling major information
gaps. The baseline supports the EU in developing
the post-2010 sub-targets and provides data
for measuring and monitoring progress in
the EU from 2011 to 2020. After 2010, regular
updates of these data will provide a clear
historical record of progress.
Key findings
Species extinction in the EU is not occurring
nearly as rapidly as in other regions and
continents, but the percentage of species
threatened with extinction still remains
high. Among others, 25 % of marine mammals
and 15 % of terrestrial mammals, 22 % of
amphibians and 21 % of reptiles are threatened
with extinction.
Many fishery resources are still not being
managed sustainably. Around 46 % of assessed
European stocks fall outside safe biological
limits and 88 % of species are overfished.
Habitat fragmentation,
degradation and destruction due to land-use
change constitute the main pressures and
drivers causing biodiversity loss. Corine
Land Cover inventory indicates that areas
of extensive agriculture, grasslands and
wetlands are continuing to decline across
Europe.
Europe cannot meet its
consumption demands from within its own
borders and the gap between demand and production
capacity has grown steadily since 1960.
The impacts of changing
climate are just beginning to emerge and
the wider ecosystem implications have not
yet been fully recognised. However, many
ecosystems have been degraded, thereby reducing
their capacity to respond to future shocks
such as the effects of climate change.
The establishment of
the Natura 2000 network has progressed well
in the terrestrial environment, with nearly
18 % of EU land designated. In the marine
environment, the progress remains limited.
EU legislation has helped
reduce pressure on biodiversity. For example,
acidification and eutrophication from excessive
nitrogen accumulation are declining and
nitrogen balances of farmlands are decreasing;
water quality has improved in fresh waters,
the state of freshwater systems is improving
generally and the marine environment is
stable.
