Resolution on an action plan for nature, people and the economy

The European Parliament adopted by 612 votes to 33 with 35 abstentions, a resolution tabled by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety on an Action Plan for nature, people and the economy.

Members welcomed the Action Plan for nature, people and the economy presented by the Commission, which aims to halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services by 2020. However, they stressed that the objectives of the 2010 Biodiversity Strategy have not been achieved. In Europe, nearly a quarter of wildlife species are now threatened with extinction and most ecosystems are degraded.

Accordingly, Parliament insisted on the need for further efforts to achieve the 2020 targets, while stressing the need to ensure full and scrupulous implementation of Union legislation on nature.

Member States were called upon to take additional measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and air pollution and to improve energy and material efficiency.

Participation of all actors: Members recalled that the European Court of Auditors had noted a lack of coordination between the competent authorities and other stakeholders in the Member States. They:

• called on the Commission to provide effective support to national and regional actors in implementing nature legislation and in improving environmental inspections;
• emphasised the role of civil society in ensuring better implementation of Union nature legislation, and the importance of the provisions of the Aarhus Convention in this regard.

Protected species and habitats: stressing that Member States should take care to prevent any deterioration of Natura 2000 areas, Parliament called for full implementation of nature directives to ensure that conservation actions that are taken are in line with the latest technical and scientific progress.

Members urged the Commission to come forward with an EU strategy to protect and conserve threatened pollinators and proposed that measures against Varroa should be mandatory at EU level and to support bee-keeper training in bee protection methods. The also stressed the need:

• for a plan coordinated at European level, on the basis of scientific data, to manage migratory bird species passing through more than one Member State;
• for the Invasive Alien Species (IAS) Regulation to be fully and effectively implemented and for the EU budget for this to be adequately financed; 
• to facilitate the necessary cooperation with third countries to improve environmental protection in marine areas.

Links with other areas of action: Parliament stressed the urgent need to act on the main factors affecting loss of biodiversity, namely the destruction and degradation of habitats mainly due to excessive land use, pollution, intensive agriculture, the use of synthetic chemical pesticides, the spread of non-native species and climate change. It also stressed the need to ensure coherence among the EU’s various policies.

The resolution called for:

• ensuring that the funds under the CAP are redirected from subsidising activities associated with biodiversity decline to financing environmentally sustainable agricultural practices;
• investigating the possibility of ‘green and blue services’ (landscape, nature and water management) in return for payment based on market rates;
• training for farmers regarding the protection of livestock against large carnivores;
• supporting biodiversity in marine areas.

Funding: Parliament called for maximum use to be made of existing means, including L’Instrument Financier pour l’Environnement (LIFE), the CAP and structural funds. It welcomed the upcoming Commission proposal to increase the nature and biodiversity envelope by 10 % under the LIFE programme. It called for new financial mechanisms for biodiversity conservation to be included in the next multiannual financial framework 

(MFF).

Lastly, Members observed that it is necessary to study the role of green infrastructure in mitigating the effects of natural disasters linked to meteorological and climatic changes.