Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2008-04-23-Speech-3-251"
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"en.20080423.21.3-251"2
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"Mr President, Mr President-in-Office of the Council, Commissioner, two weeks ago I represented the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety and the Temporary Committee on Climate Change at the informal Environment Council in Slovenia. There were two main topics: dealing with climate change and the protection of biodiversity. The emphasis was on biodiversity, biomass and biofuels in relation to biodiversity in forests. The discussion covered the potential of biomass from forests for energy supplies, particularly the second generation of biofuels, and the sustainability criteria for the use of biomass from forests. It was a successful conference, for which thanks is due to the Slovenian chairman, Mr Podobnic.
We can see that many species are at risk of extinction due to deforestation and illegal logging. They are facing a radical change to their environment and therefore cannot survive. Forests support a wide variety of plant and animal species. It is therefore vital to call a halt to deforestation as far as possible in order to protect biodiversity. That applies not just to countries outside the European Union, but certainly also to the European Member States. Good forestry has to be encouraged, especially since forests are also very valuable in other areas. Deforestation also causes serious soil erosion, certainly in mountain regions, and disturbs the water balance, which has a major impact on biodiversity, too.
Global warming can also affect the number of species. The range of distribution of species is changing considerably, as a result of which some species are at serious risk, especially in the northern regions. Logging in tropical regions only seems to increase warming, partly because it significantly reduces CO
storage capacity. However, studies published in the last few years, in
for instance, show that if forest land is increased the result is higher emissions of methane, a greenhouse gas that is 23 times stronger than CO
. More methane is emitted as the temperature rises and there is more sunshine. In the tropical regions particularly, considerably more methane is emitted. When more forests are planted, CO
absorption capacity is increased, but some of the CO
absorption is thus cancelled out by an increase in methane emissions. Nonetheless, the balance is in fact positive, certainly in the non-tropical regions.
Finally, the factors I have mentioned that are negatively affecting biodiversity are unfortunately aggravated by the current production of biofuels, which is having an adverse effect on the tropical rain forest in particular. Forests that are home to a wide range of species are replaced by plantations housing very few species. These are, furthermore, having adverse effects in terms of greenhouse gas, absorption capacity and food prices. I am pleased that that has been brought out in the resolution. In any case, we have to be vigilant with the second generation of biofuels."@en1
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"Nature and Science"1
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