Spain more successful in the World Cup than in the EU Presidency

Brussels, 25 June 2010 – While the world looks towards the October Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, where the new 2020 biodiversity target is to be adopted, BirdLife International [1] presented its evaluation of the environmental performance of the Spanish EU Presidency.

With Spain taking office at the beginning of the International Year of Biodiversity, BirdLife International had great hopes for the Presidency, highlighted in the “Five keys to a successful Presidency”, within its publication “Greening Europe”. 

Being evaluated against these five key recommendations, Spain has shown strong leadership on biodiversity policy, but did not meet expectations on other policy sectors, such as climate change and bioenergy. Therefore BirdLife awarded the Presidency only 3 out of 10 possible points. 

    * On biodiversity policy, the Spanish Presidency has shown strong leadership and effectiveness in overseeing the swift adoption of an ambitious 2020 biodiversity target. EU Heads of State have committed to reverse biodiversity decline in Europe by 2020 and to contribute to conservation also at the global level (Good progress: 2 out of 2 points)

    * Unfortunately on climate financing, the Spanish Presidency missed the important opportunity to better coordinate European efforts to raise new public money to help developing countries cope with their climate change challenges (No Progress: 0 out of 2 points)

    * The Spanish Presidency did not make any progress in urging the adoption of sustainability standards for bioenergy. The EU is still implementing its policies that will damage the climate, biodiversity and vulnerable human populations (No Progress: 0 out of 2 points)

    * As far as the debate on the EU budget is concerned, no real progress was made on reforming it to include greater attention to ecosystem and natural resources. (No progress: 0 out of 2 points)

    * Despite progress remaining too slow, BirdLife welcomed the launch of the Consultation on the Seabird Action Plan and the Impact Assessment, which has recently been initiated. (Limited Progress: 1 out of 2 points)

ENDS

For more information, please contact:

Alessia Pautasso, Communication & Media Officer at BirdLife International -

+32 (0) 2 541 07 81

Mobile: +32 494 542844

E-mail:  alessia.pautasso@birdlife.org

Notes for the editor

[1] BirdLife International is a global Partnership of nature conservation organisations working in more than 100 countries and territories. BirdLife is the leading authority on the status of birds, their habitats and the problems affecting them, and is working on a wide range of environmental issues. BirdLife has 42 Partners in Europe, and is represented in all 27 Member States.

For more information about the work of the BirdLife European Division: http://europe.birdlife.org 

[2] Greening Europe is BirdLife’s bi-annual publication which highlights the environmental priorities for each EU Presidency.