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European targets on biodiversity
18/03/2010
New targets to stop biodiversity loss and maintain nature's contribution to human and economic well-being have been endorsed by environment ministers at the EU Environment Council.
Environment Minister Roseanna Cunningham gave her wholehearted support to the agreement to meet new targets by 2020.
Attending the Environment Council in Brussels, Ms Cunningham said:
"Europe has endorsed the position which we in Scotland have been promoting for some time. The new biodiversity targets approved for 2020 and vision for 2050 mean that as well as preserving the rare and interesting, we also need to think about ecosystems as a whole and the benefits they give us.
"The vital contribution which the natural environment makes to human well-being and economic prosperity is increasingly recognised and understood.
"This new approach should help to optimise choices by taking account of the services we obtain from the environment and the species underpinning the ecosystems themselves."
The new targets recognise the important contribution of biodiversity in combating the economic crisis, creating jobs and sustaining long term social benefits. By managing the environment as a whole, rather than focussing on specific plants and species, the new approach will encompass all areas of land use and encourage the adoption of a sustainable approach.
Jonny Hughes, Director of Conservation for the Scottish Wildlife Trust, said:
"In one of its most important meetings for years, the EU Environment Council has admitted to being 'seriously concerned' about the failure of Europe to achieve its stated target to halt the loss of biodiversity by 2010.
"The recommendations on how we tackle the biodiversity crisis in the next decade are truly progressive and could herald a new era of ecological responsibility.
"Governments, business and civic society must pull together across the EU to deliver the real changes in the stewardship of land and the design of town and cities necessary to fulfil this vision."
The March Environment Council took place in Brussels on March 15. Ministers agreed new targets to halt the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystems in the EU by 2020 and to restore them as far as feasible. This will also increase Europe's contribution to averting global biodiversity loss.
The Scottish Government has established five ecosystem working groups to examine upland, woodland, marine and coastal, freshwater and wetland as well as lowland and farmland ecosystems. Groups will look at flood protection, water purification, pollination, food and aesthetic appeal and how top maintain functions.