BirdLife presents its priorities for the EU Belgian presidency

Brussels, 5 July 2010 – Today BirdLife International [1] presented its environmental priorities for the Belgian EU Presidency, which just started, and which will bring to an end the International Year of Biodiversity.

In its publication ‘Greening Europe’ [2], BirdLife identified “Five keys for a successful Belgian Presidency”:

-          The European Commission should publish an ambitious new Biodiversity Strategy for the EU and initiate the production of 2020 strategies for different policy sectors, setting out the details of how to achieve its new 2020 target;

-          The Presidency and Member States should ensure that ecosystem services provided by nature –such as flood prevention– are placed at the heart of National Adaptation Strategies.

-          EU institutions must agree a viable vision for sweeping CAP reform, refocusing spending on rewarding farmers for the delivery of clearly defined public goods and on the acceleration of a true 'sustainability revolution' in EU farming.

-          Significant resources must be allocated to funding the Natura 2000 network, to biodiversity conservation and ecosystem restoration both inside the EU and globally.

-          The Presidency should call on the European Commission to instigate emergency measures to stop the slaughter of 200,000 seabirds in European fisheries each year.

“The Belgian Presidency will lead EU engagement at the 10th Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity in Nagoya, Japan, in October. Having just failed its own target of halting biodiversity decline by 2010, the EU cannot allow Nagoya to follow in the wake of last year’s Copenhagen fiasco”, commented Ariel Brunner, Head of EU Policy at the BirdLife European Division. “The EU must both put its own house in order and lead by example on the global scene. Missing the target to halt biodiversity loss by 2020 is no longer an option”, concluded Mr Brunner.

In six months BirdLife will evaluate the Presidency and score its environmental performance.

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] You can download the publication at http://www.birdlife.org/eu/pdfs/Greening_Europe_Belgian_Presidency_2010  

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required './modules/cck/theme/theme.inc' (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') in /var/www/pr.euractiv.com/htdocs/modules/cck/content.module on line 177

Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required './modules/cck/theme/theme.inc' (include_path='.:/usr/share/php:/usr/share/pear') in /var/www/pr.euractiv.com/htdocs/modules/cck/content.module on line 177