Ministers 'deeply concerned' by biodiversity loss[fr] 

Meeting in Luxembourg, the ministers declared themselves "deeply concerned" by the European Commission's recent assessment that the EU is unlikely to meet its 2010 target of halting biodiversity decline. 

To address the bleak situation, they suggested examining the impact of EU rural development and fisheries policies on biodiversity and asked the Commission to assess the effectiveness of the NATURA 2000 network of protected areas. 

The ministers further urged better use of the bloc's Common Agricultural Policy to strengthen biodiversity conservation. The EU and its member states are also requested to consider reduciing pressure on fisheries to "sustainable levels" in upcoming reform of the Common Fisheries Policy.

Consideration of "ecosystem goods and services" should be better integrated into policies and programmes for the relevant sectors at national as well as EU level, ministers said, adding that this would help measure the drivers of biodiversity loss relevant to specific sectors. 

Ministers also called for better understanding of the impact on biodiversity loss of consumption of products like meat, soy beans and palm oil. 

"In the absence of proper evaluation and adequate environmental safeguards," ministers also expressed concern over the impact of biofuels production on biodiversity, food security and the climate, stressing the need for sustainability criteria for biofuels.

Globally, biodiversity should be mainstreamed in the development strategies of both donor and recipient countries, they added. 

Invasive alien species

Ministers also reacted to the Commission's Communication on policy options for an EU strategy on invasive alien species (IAS), published in December 2008. 

They asked the EU executive to prepare a specific strategy by 2010, containing measures on prevention, including trade-related aspects, early detection, warning and rapid response, monitoring and control as well as restoration of biodiversity affected by IAS.   

Ecosystems pricing

With the EU failing to achieve its biodiversity protection targets, the European Environment Agency (EEA) is calling for protection measures to be integrated into agricultural, forestry and fisheries policies, and goods and services to be priced according to their true impact on the environment. 

The current price of goods and services "does not reflect their impact on the ecosystems that sustain them," according to the agency. The EEA believes "better ecosystem accounting, which indicates the real value of the natural capital that we deplete through our economic activity," is necessary. 

The agency is urging the EU to integrate biodiversity and ecosystems into key sectors like agriculture, forestry and fisheries.

BirdLife International, an environmental NGO, welcomed the ministerial discussions, but referred to the adopted Council Conclusions as "wishful thinking", in sharp contradiction with the political reality, "where the same governments continue to follow old-fashioned recipes in stimulating short-term growth at the expense of future generations, the global poor and last but not least, future public budgets."