EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030

The new EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 aims to halt the loss of biodiversity and sets the EU on a path to recovery by 2030. The strategy proposes how the EU could contribute to the upcoming international negotiations on global post-2020 biodiversity framework and aims to put the EU in a leading position in the world in addressing the global biodiversity crisis.

Biodiversity loss and the climate crisis are interdependent and they exacerbate each other. Thus, the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 is a core part of the European Green Deal. Biodiversity and ecosystems provide us with food, health and medicines, materials, recreation, and wellbeing. It is essential for life. The Biodiversity Strategy supports the EU societies´ resilience to threats such as climate change impacts.

Within the last 40 years the population of global wild species has fallen by 60%. Unsustainable human activities, such as changes in land use, led to the fact that we are losing nature like never before. The EU-wide strategy aims to establish protected areas for at least 30% of land and 30% of sea in Europe. At least a third of these protected areas will be strictly protected and all protected areas will be effectively managed by defining clear conservation objectives, measures and monitoring. Degraded ecosystems at land and sea will be restored by sustainable land use and agriculture, reducing pesticides, halting and reversing the decline of pollinators and restoring at least 25 000 km of rivers. Natural capital and biodiversity should be integrated into business practice, EU funds and national and private funding.

In the post-COVID context, nature restoration will be a central element of the EU’s recovery plan, which will be the compass for EU recovery. When restarting the economy, it is crucial to avoid falling back into damaging old habits. Investment in the protection and restoration of nature has been identified as critical for Europe’s economic recovery in the coming years.