Biodiversity and Nature

Biodiversity - the immense variety of Life on Earth - is what makes our planet not only habitable but also beautiful. We depend on the natural richness of our planet for the food, energy, wood, raw materials, clean air and clean water that make life possible and which drive our economy. But we also look to our natural environment for less tangible things such as aesthetic pleasure, artistic inspiration and recreation.

The European Commission has adopted an ambitious new strategy to halt the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services in the EU by 2020. There are six main targets, and 20 actions to help Europe reach its goal. Biodiversity loss is an enormous challenge in the EU, with around one in four species currently threatened with extinction and 88% of fish stocks over-exploited or significantly depleted.

The six targets cover:

• Full implementation of EU nature legislation to protect biodiversity
• Better protection for ecosystems, and more use of green infrastructure
• More sustainable agriculture and forestry
• Better management of fish stocks
• Tighter controls on invasive alien species
• A bigger EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss.
 
The strategy is in line with two commitments made by EU leaders in March 2010. The first is the 2020 headline target: "Halting the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, and restoring them in so far as feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss"; the second is the 2050 vision: “By 2050, European Union biodiversity and the ecosystem services it provides – its natural capital – are protected, valued and appropriately restored for biodiversity's intrinsic value and for their essential contribution to human wellbeing and economic prosperity, and so that catastrophic changes caused by the loss of biodiversity are avoided.”

European society, our immense cultural diversity and our economies are reflected in our landscapes, agriculture and natural spaces. We are stewards of a wonderful natural legacy that we can pass on hopefully in tact to future generations. Over the last 25 years together we have built up a vast network of nearly 26.000 protected areas covering all the Member States and a total area of more than 850.000 km2, representing approximately 18% of total EU terrestrial area. This vast array of sites, known as the Natura 2000 network - the largest coherent network of protected areas in the world, is a testament to the importance that EU citizens attach to biodiversity.

The legal basis for the Natura 2000 network comes from the Birds Directive which dates back to 1979 and the Habitats Directive from 1992. Together these Directives constitute the backbone of the EU's internal policy on biodiversity protection. But protected nature areas do not exist and certainly cannot thrive in isolation from the rest of the land. We need to ensure that our agriculture as well as our regional, energy and transport policies are sustainable and that Europe's natural capital-its biodiversity, is conserved and protected.

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European Green Capital

Europe is now an essentially urban society, with four out of five Europeans living in towns and cities. Most of the environmental challenges facing our society originate from urban areas, but it is also these urban areas that bring together the commitment and innovation needed to resolve them.

The European Commission has long recognised the important role that local authorities play in improving the environment, and their high level of commitment to genuine progress. The European Green Capital Award has been conceived as an initiative to promote and reward these efforts.

One European city is selected each year as the European Green Capital of the year. The award is given to a city that:

• Has a consistent record of achieving high environmental standards
• Is committed to ongoing and ambitious goals for further environmental improvement and sustainable development
• Can act as a role model to inspire other cities and promote best practices to all other European cities.

The title of European Green Capital for 2011 was presented to Hamburg with the opportunity to become a city of the future. Hamburg will utilize the year 2011 to send an impulse throughout Europe, disseminating its best practices in the built urban environment, nature and climate. Watch this video about Hamburg: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YhYoqasW1G4&feature=player_embedded

The award aims to provide an incentive for cities to inspire each other and share best practices, while at the same time engaging in friendly competition. In other words, the cities become role models for each other.

“The finalists and winners of the European Green Capital Award provide us with valuable real-life examples of how respect for the environment, excellent quality of life and economic growth can all be successfully combined,” EU Commissioner for the Environment, Mr Janez Potočnik.

Environment for Europeans

The European Commission regularly publishes a magazine called Environment for Europeans.