About: Fitness Check

Nature laws saved by the people: An antidote to Europe’s crisis?

Environmental NGOs won a big campaign opposing the European Commission’s attempt to weaken the EU Nature Directives. This positive outcome may provide part of the answer to Europe's search for a new narrative, write Geneviève Pons and Andreas Baumüller.

Saving our wildlife requires radical policy change

Cute animals are social media stars. Facebook and Twitter are peppered with them. Beyond this fun factor though, animals rarely get the attention they deserve. Hopefully, this will change, writes Geneviève Pons, as WWF launches its Living Planet Report.

A call on Vice-President Timmermans to free the Nature Directives

If the Commission wants to change its image as a shadowy lobbyist’s paradise, approving the Birds and Habitats Directives would show that the EU executive is in touch with its citizens, not in the pocket of powerful corporations, writes Ariel Brunner.

1,001 nights: The long saga of the EU Nature Directives

It’s been 986 days and nights since the European Commission announced that it was planning a ‘fitness check’ of the Birds and Habitats Directives. Yet, after all this time, we’re still waiting for a conclusion of this saga and a clear statement from the Commission, writes Andreas Baumüller.

Commission research shows Nature Directives don’t need ‘better regulation’

EXCLUSIVE/ EU rules to protect birdlife and habitats – under threat from a review driven by the European Commission’s ‘better regulation’ strategy - are fit for purpose, according to leaked research that fuelled demands to leave the laws alone.