Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-05-21-Speech-1-098"
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"en.20070521.16.1-098"2
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"Madam President, the report on which we are to vote is about halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010. This is a subject, the topical nature and importance of which is something on which the majority of us agree. That is also the reason why such a small number of amendments was tabled by my honourable friends, together with the fact that the report was passed unanimously by the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety.
As far as funding is concerned, I cannot hide my disappointment and strong concern at financial constraints for support to biodiversity actions resulting from Financial Framework decisions. It is the responsibility of Member States to take up all available opportunities under the CAP, CFP, Cohesion and Structural Funds, LIFE+ and the Seventh Framework Programme and to allocate national resources.
Greater consideration must be given to financial needs in the 2008-2009 budget review, during which there should be an assessment of the sufficiency and availability of EU financing for biodiversity, especially for Natura 2000.
I wish to thank my two honourable friends, Mrs Avril Doyle and Mrs Marie Anne Isler Béguin for their amendments, especially Mrs Béguin for adding hydroelectric energy to paragraph 67, which I had omitted to do.
Finally, ladies and gentlemen, I should like to draw your attention to the conclusions of the survey requested on biodiversity on behalf of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety: it would appear that initiatives to halt the loss of biodiversity are unsuccessful due to the impossibility of implementing them and the lack of political will. The European Union action plan up to 2010 is very ambitious but, unfortunately, it does not propose simple solutions to the problem of implementation and the lack of funding and political will on the part of the Member States.
It is up to us to send a strong message and to exert pressure on our governments so that the ambitious objectives of the action plan are achieved.
I should like to congratulate the Commission on its communication, on its conceptual approach, its priority objectives for 2007-2008 and its key supporting measures. Nonetheless, I must at this point express my profound concern at the continuing loss of biodiversity and the related decline of ecosystem services.
I believe that we all recognise the urgent need for an effort to meet commitments to halt the loss of biodiversity in the European Union by 2010.
The action plan is a vital tool and is our last opportunity to bring together actors at Community and Member State levels on key actions to meet the 2010 commitments. I recognise, however, that the action plan will be insufficient to conserve biodiversity and sustain ecosystem services in the longer term.
To continue, I must stress that it is exceptionally important for the Natura 2000 network to be completed on land and at sea and for effective management and adequate financing of the network. I must also stress the importance of timely and effective implementation of the Water Framework Directive to attain good ecological status of freshwaters.
I urge the Member States to ensure that projects funded by Cohesion and Structural Funds do not harm biodiversity and ecosystem services but optimise benefits to biodiversity.
Passing on to another issue, we must recognise and address the fact that invasive alien species are a key threat to biodiversity and that the spread of invasive alien species is exacerbated by the increasing movement of peoples and goods.
As far as trade is concerned, no one can ignore the ecological footprint arising from EU trade on biodiversity. I call on the Commission and the Member States to take immediate action to adopt measures to prevent or minimise negative impacts from such trade on tropical forests. The Commission must come forward as soon as possible with an analysis of options for further legislation to curb imports of illegally harvested timber.
Climate change is a very important chapter and a separate policy area in the Commission communication. It is of vital importance to develop an ecosystem approach for adaptation to climate change, in particular in relation to policies which affect land, water and marine use."@en1
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