The PES commends the rapporteur, S&D MEP César Luena, for his work to ensure progressive objectives remain a key part of the report, which is the European Parliament’s response to the Commission’s Biodiversity Strategy.
The Biodiversity Strategy is another key component of the European Green Deal, delivered under the leadership of European Commission Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans. It sets out a path for protecting and reversing biodiversity to ensure that the EU contributes to address the main drivers of changes that occur daily and negatively impact biodiversity and the health of our planet.
PES President Sergei Stanishev said:
“Today we can already see and feel the consequences of environmental degradation and climate change. One million of the eight million species on the planet are at risk of extinction. If we do not take responsibility for protecting the life on our planet, then we will soon feel the consequences for human health too.
“We must do everything we can to protect our ecosystems and secure a healthy environment for the generation to come. The Biodiversity Strategy is an important step towards this and thanks to the work of the S&D Group, the European Parliament put forward its contribution with strong ambitions for restoration, resilience and protection of our environment.
“Achieving the objectives of the European Green Deal is a key priority of the PES, and the progressive will continue taking the lead.”
The report endorses the main targets of the Commission’s strategy and further stresses the need for ambitious actions to address the main drivers of change in nature such as changes in land and sea use, direct use of organisms, climate change, pollution and invasive alien species. The PES welcomes the recognition that the environmental dimension must go hand in hand with social and economic dimensions and is a fundamental basis for sustainable development worldwide.
