Europe now has a plan to save people and the economy by restoring nature’s health

Europe now has a plan to save people and the economy by restoring nature’s health

Romania must increase its strictly protected area from 1% to 10% of the country’s territory

Bucharest, 21 May. Yesterday, the European Commission adopted the new biodiversity strategy and the agricultural “Farm to Fork” strategy to ensure a fair, healthy and environmentally friendly food system. The two strategies are integrated, bringing nature, farmers, businesses and consumers together to jointly create a sustainable and competitive future.

“The two harmoniously integrated strategies are nothing less than what we environmentalists have been calling for for several decades, but today, at the 12th hour, these demands become an obligation for all EU Member States, including Romania,” said Gabriel Păun, president of Agent Green.

European biodiversity strategy

European Farm to Fork strategy (PDF in English, archived version)

The crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic has demonstrated how vulnerable the worsening decline in biodiversity makes us, and how essential a well-functioning food system is to our society. In line with the Green Deal (European Green Deal), the strategies propose ambitious EU actions and commitments to tackle biodiversity loss in Europe and worldwide and transform our food systems into global standards for competitive sustainability, protection of human and planetary health, and the livelihoods of everyone in the food value chain. Both strategies put citizens at their centre, committing to increase protection of land and sea, restore degraded ecosystems and give the EU a leading international role in both biodiversity protection and building a sustainable food chain.

The new biodiversity strategy addresses the key drivers of biodiversity loss, such as unsustainable use of land and seas, overexploitation of natural resources, pollution and invasive alien species. Adopted in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, the strategy is central to the EU recovery plan, fundamental to preventing and building resilience to future outbreaks, and to providing immediate business and investment opportunities to restart the EU economy. It also seeks to integrate biodiversity considerations into the EU’s overall economic growth strategy.

Among other things, the strategy proposes binding targets for restoring damaged ecosystems and rivers, improving the health of protected EU habitats and species, bringing pollinators back to farmland, reducing pollution, greening our cities, strengthening organic farming and other biodiversity-friendly agricultural practices, and improving the health of European forests. It sets out concrete measures to put Europe’s biodiversity on the path to recovery by 2030, including turning at least 30% of Europe’s land and seas into effectively managed protected areas, with 10% strictly protected. Moreover, high-diversity landscape features will be restored on at least 10% of agricultural land, while 25% of it will be used for organic farming.

“Protected areas currently cover 18% of Romania’s territory, but only an incredibly small 1% is strictly protected, with the rest subject to intensive resource exploitation. We have 10 years to create protected areas on 30% of the country’s territory, with 10% strictly protected,” Păun added.

The planned actions on nature protection, sustainable use and restoration will bring economic benefits to local communities, creating sustainable jobs and growth. Funding of EUR 20 billion/year for biodiversity will be unlocked through various sources, including EU funds and national and private financing. “At present, caring for protected areas costs EU countries 6 billion euros annually and provides 12 million jobs, delivering benefits valued at 300 billion euros annually in return. Protected areas are therefore an opportunity and a privilege rather than a burden,” Păun also said.

The “Farm to Fork” strategy will enable the transition to a sustainable EU food system that protects food security and ensures access to healthy diets based more on plant-based foods, produced by a healthy planet. Healthier diets based mainly on plants are also part of plans to prevent cancer and cardiovascular disease. It is estimated that in 2017 almost 1 million Europeans died because of unhealthy diets, while another 16 million became seriously ill and lost good years of life.

The strategy will reduce the environmental and climate footprint of the EU food system and strengthen its resilience, protecting citizens’ health and ensuring the livelihoods of economic operators. It sets concrete targets for transforming the EU food system, including a 50% reduction in pesticide use and risk, a reduction of at least 20% in fertiliser use, a 50% reduction in sales of antimicrobials used for farm animals and aquaculture, and the target of devoting 25% of agricultural land to organic farming. It also proposes ambitious measures to ensure that the healthy option is also the most easily accessible for EU citizens, including improving labelling to better meet consumers’ information needs about healthy and sustainable food.

As fundamental parts of the European Green Deal, both strategies will also support economic recovery. In the context of the coronavirus pandemic, they seek to strengthen our societies’ resilience to future pandemics and threats such as climate impacts, forest fires, food insecurity and disease outbreaks, including by supporting more sustainable practices in agriculture, fisheries and aquaculture and addressing the protection of wild fauna and flora and illegal trade in them.

In the immediate future, the Commission needs the strategies to be endorsed by the European Parliament and the Council of Europe. All citizens and stakeholders are invited to join a broad public debate. At the heart of the European Green Deal is the ambitious goal of halting and reversing biodiversity loss by transforming our food systems, our use of forests, land, water and seas, and our energy, urban and industrial systems. The Deal also stresses the crucial importance of addressing climate change and biodiversity together.

Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevičius said: “Nature is essential to our physical and mental well-being: it filters air and water, regulates the climate and ensures the pollination of our crops. Yet we act as if nature does not matter, losing our natural heritage at an unprecedented rate. This new biodiversity strategy builds on what has worked in the past and adds new tools that will put us on the path to true sustainability for everyone’s benefit. The EU’s goal is to protect and restore nature, contribute to economic recovery from the current crisis and pave the way for an ambitious global framework to protect biodiversity across the planet.”

Executive Vice-President for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans said: “The coronavirus crisis has shown us how vulnerable we are and how important it is to restore the balance between human activity and nature. Climate change and biodiversity loss are a clear and present danger to humanity. At the heart of the Green Deal, the biodiversity and Farm to Fork strategies envisage creating a new, better balance between nature, food systems and biodiversity, protecting our citizens’ health and well-being while increasing the EU’s competitiveness and resilience. These strategies are a fundamental component of the broad transition we are launching.”

Stella Kyriakides, Commissioner for Health and Food Safety, said: “We must move forward and transform the EU food system into a driving force for sustainability. The Farm to Fork strategy will have a broad, positive influence on how we produce, buy and consume food, benefiting citizens’ health, societies and the environment. It gives us the opportunity to reconcile our food systems with the health of our planet, ensure food security and meet the aspirations of Europeans, who want healthy, fair and environmentally friendly food.”

European biodiversity strategy

European Farm to Fork strategy (PDF in English, archived version)