IT WILL NEVER BE ENOUGH BECAUSE PEOPLE DONT LIKE CHANGE

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11 Dec 2019
EU Green Deal - good for climate, bad for biodiversity
© BirdLife Europe and Central Asia
By Honey Kohan
Today, the European Commission announced their highly anticipated European Green Deal. The first of its kind in EU history, Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has promised to deliver the Green deal in her first 100 days in office.

The document which has been described as a ‘growth strategy’, predominantly focuses on the current climate crises but fails to be a game changer for biodiversity and ecosystems. Despite several important and overwhelming major research papers which have been issued in the last few months confirming the biodiversity crises, with one million species threatened to go extinct – the EU green deal leaves much to be desired on the biodiversity front.

On biodiversity:
The Green Deal must have a biodiversity strategy that focuses on acting as soon as it is published. Nature in Europe has been degraded beyond recognition. Although vague, this Deal leaves the door open for the legislation nature actually needs, a set of legally binding restoration targets that Member States are obliged to meet. The Commission fails to mention any of the ecosystems beyond forests and fresh water that must be restored to fight climate change and preserve the EU’s biodiversity.

On enforcement:
Although the Commission commits to enforce environmental laws, the means they propose to do so are largely ineffective, as they focus on business as usual instead of focusing on holding Member States accountable for breaking the laws. In order to enforce the already existing nature laws we have in Europe, the Commission should firstly strengthen their own capacity to deal with Member States breaking the law.

On forests:
The Commission risks a continuation of the business-as-usual forest strategy which neither addresses degraded forest systems nor the fight against climate change. Increasing plantation forestry to simply provide biomass for energy will not address biodiversity or climate issues, in fact they could exacerbate both.

On agriculture:
The agriculture content of the EU Green Deal remains vague consisting of a vague commitment to sustainability, reducing pesticides and fertilisers, and boosting organic farming. The most