Options for an EU vision and target for biodiversity beyond 2010
19 January 2010
The European Commission marks the opening of the International Year of Biodiversity with a communication to the European Parliament, the Eurpean Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the European Committee of the Regions. Despite past efforts, species extinctions are continuing at alarming rates, and a new study is needed to halt these losses. The Communication sets out a long-term vision (2050) and outlines four possible mid-term options to reach it (2020). Each of the four options presents a different level of ambition. In this vision, biodiversity and the ecosystem services we get for free from nature are preserved, valued and, insofar as possible, restored for their intrinsic value, enabling them to support economic prosperity and human well-being, and averting any catastrophic changes linked to biodiversity loss. The aim is to launch and facilitate a debate between Member States with a view to developing a post-2010 biodiversity policy framework for the EU before the end of the year. New targets are needed, as the current EU and global biodiversity targets expire after 2010.