Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2002-03-12-Speech-2-284"
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"en.20020312.11.2-284"2
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"Mr President, ladies and gentlemen, I would first like to thank the rapporteur, Mrs Isler Béguin, the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Consumer Policy, the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development, the Committee on Fisheries and the Committee on Development and Cooperation for their work on drafting the report and this resolution.
Biodiversity is a central issue in terms of sustainable development and the integration of environmental considerations into other policy areas. It is important in its own right but also forms the basis for activities based on natural resources such as agriculture and the fishing industry. Biodiversity is also important environmental capital which local societies in many countries depend on for their livelihood. At the same time, it is disappearing faster than ever before in human history. I have sad news tonight. We have now lost the first species on our list of protected species. The Pyrenean mountain goat has vanished for ever. We are thus unable even to completely protect the species we have placed on our lists of species we have promised to protect.
Both the EU’s strategy for sustainable development and the seventh Environment Action Programme state that one of their central goals is that of halting the decline in biodiversity by 2010. If we are to be able to achieve this goal, it is very important that the action plans for biodiversity which we are discussing today are really implemented. Safeguarding biodiversity depends on the birds directive and the habitats directive being implemented in full. However, this is not enough. If we really want to stop this loss of biodiversity, we have to look at the entire territory of the EU and not just the protected areas.
It is necessary to integrate the question of biodiversity with the policy on the development and use of the mainland and the sea. The biodiversity action plans are not just ambitious but also realistic. They mean a great step forwards in terms of integrating biodiversity into agriculture, fisheries and development cooperation policy, as well as into our own environmental policy. The action plan for the conservation of natural resources clearly shows our firm intention to fully implement the birds directive and the habitats directive and to support the work on Natura 2000. This also states how we intend to use general environmental controls such as environmental impact assessment, environmental labelling, environmental audits and other financial controls to promote the safeguarding of biodiversity throughout the EU.
The action plan relating to agriculture states priorities for achieving mutual benefits from agricultural activity and biodiversity. The most important instruments cover everything from rural development measures to various environmental initiatives in the common organisations of the market for beef, milk and cereals, etc. The action plan covers all of our countryside, including the Natura 2000 areas.
The action plan for fisheries addresses threats from both traditional fisheries and aquaculture, and it complies entirely with the Green Paper on the future of the common fisheries policy.
The majority, and the most serious, of the threats to global biodiversity are in the developing countries. The battle for biodiversity therefore has a great deal to do with our strategy for eradicating poverty. We have a responsibility for helping developing countries so that the natural resources which are crucial to their well-being can be protected. The action plan for economic cooperation and development provides the tools for this.
These plans for biodiversity are not static instruments but instead will be developed primarily through the use of various indicators. This has been pointed out during the debate and is naturally also something which the Commission supports and which we have begun working with. These plans will primarily contribute to the discussion of the reform of the common fisheries policy, common agriculture policy and the regulations on the Structural Funds.
I hope that these reforms will have the scope and provide the controls that are required if we are to completely meet the goals of the biodiversity action plans. Only then will we be able to achieve the overall goal, namely that of halting the decline of biodiversity by 2010. I would like to thank all my fellow MEPs for your valuable contribution to the debate."@en1
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