Report on the implementation of EU legislation aiming at the conservation of biodiversity

The Council adopted conclusions on international biodiversity beyond 2010.

Alarmed by the increasing rate of biodiversity loss and the deterioration of ecosystem functions and services due to anthropogenic pressure, and the threat this poses to economic prosperity, social welfare and human well-being, the Council underlines the importance of maintaining biodiversity and avoiding irreversible damage to ecosystems and their functions, both for ethical reasons, respecting the recognition of the intrinsic value of biodiversity, and to secure social and economic stability, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and reach the Millennium Development Goals.

For the EU to actively participate in the deliberations at global level on a vision and on targets for biodiversity beyond 2010, the Council stresses the need to establish a vision and targets beyond 2010 for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity within the EU.

The Council highlights the importance of re-energising the political momentum to strengthen efforts to protect biodiversity and implement the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) through, inter alia, the adoption of a revised and ambitious Strategic Plan for the Convention at COP 10. The Council underlines the need for the EU to agree on ambitious negotiating positions in preparing for the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the CBD in Nagoya, Japan, October 2010.

The Council emphasises that a long-term global vision for the conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity should take account of the links between biodiversity, ecosystem functions and services, climate change, desertification, economic prosperity, food security, health, long-term human well-being and the eradication of poverty. It recognises the key importance of targeted research to enhance our understanding of and generate the necessary scientific knowledge base for how biodiversity should be managed to provide goods and services sustainably.

The Member States and the Commission are invited to:

·        assess the value of ecological assets and seize the opportunity to invest in the natural capital;

·        promote research and capacity development for the sustainable use of agro-biodiversity;

·        implement and further strengthen the International Treaty on Plant Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture (ITPGRFA);

·        enhance innovative financing, and engage in a global discussion on the need and possible modalities for innovative systems for payments of ecosystem services (financing of ecosystem services).

The Council also acknowledges the need:

·        for targeted and strengthened actions to effectively reverse the loss of forest cover and the loss of forest biodiversity;

·        to actively promote the establishment in 2010 of an efficient and independent mechanism, building on and complementing existing bodies and processes, to improve and strengthen the science-policy interface on biodiversity and ecosystem services;

·        to reverse the loss of freshwater, marine and coastal biodiversity, and accelerate the implementation of the 2012 target on the establishment of a global and coherent representative network of marine protected areas.

Consequently, the Council agrees to pursue the following key strategic principles in the deliberations on the CBD Strategic Plan and the development of a vision and targets beyond 2010:

The Strategic Plan should:

·        provide an effective framework for implementing the CBD and contribute to a coherent and coordinated approach to the implementation of biodiversity-related frameworks and agreements and at the international, regional and national levels;

·        include a long-term (e.g. 2050) global vision complemented by a short-/medium-term (e.g. 2020) mission, including strategic, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-bound targets based on best-available scientific evidence, building on existing CBD and other relevant biodiversity-related targets;

·        facilitate the adoption of appropriate targets for sectors, ecosystems and pressures, complemented by actions designed to achieve substantial, measurable and cost-effective progress at all levels;

·        be accompanied by clear and operational indicators to monitor progress in implementation, building on the existing framework and recognising the urgent need to improve the monitoring and evaluation systems for biodiversity and to provide a more complete set of indicators;

·        facilitate adaptation to local conditions, participatory approaches and effective communication strategies, enable institutional learning evolving from sound management and scientific studies, and allow for future revisions of targets and indicators based on best available scientific knowledge and evidence.

The long-term global vision and the short-/medium-term mission for biodiversity should:

·        be fully endorsed at the highest political level, in order to be recognised as a common vision for all biodiversity-related processes;

·        communicate the urgency and scale of the problem and necessary responses in a way that is understandable to a wide audience, encourages commitments of civil society at large and fosters collective action;

·        identify and address indirect and direct drivers of biodiversity loss, reflect the full range of values of biodiversity and ecosystem functions, goods and services, and encourage sustainable use of ecosystem goods and services as well as better integration of the true economic value of biodiversity and ecosystem services into policy frameworks, economic planning and national accounting;

·        provide a comprehensive framework for relevant sectoral and cross-sectoral policies, programmes and strategies as well as in planning processes, and wherever feasible, address drivers, pressures and responses to the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services as well as incentives for sustainable use.