European Conference “European Regions As Champions For Biodiversity 2010” - Europe meets Brabant, Brabant meets Europe – 16 February 2007

Moving the 2010 agenda forward from Europe to regions and regions to Europe

Statement by Ms Ingrid FRANZEN,  Member of the Committee on Sustainable Development of the Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe

Chair, Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Let me begin by saying that I am honored to address this Conference on behalf of the President of the Congress of Local and Regional authorities of the Council of Europe.

I would like to warmly thank the Province of Noord-Brabant, working with the Countdown 2010 Partnership, the European Union Committee of the Regions and the European Commission for the excellent organization of this timely event.

Timely because the problems of biodiversity represent one of the major threats facing our planet and facing humanity now. We have an historic duty to address this issue and to find solutions while there is still time. It is with this in mind that I am particularly pleased to be able to speak here today and to have heard more about the ways in which our regions have been taking a lead on this matter.

The ever-increasing involvement of the regions of Europe in finding solutions and implementing strategies to better manage our biodiversity is a very positive step forward. Regions, with municipalities, are close to the actors involved in the field. Our policies and strategies can have a real impact on our environment and on the lives of our citizens.

The Congress of Local and Regional Authorities of the Council of Europe is an excellent partner for our reflections here. It is a pan-European representative body of more than 200,000 territorial communities of our continent offering an opportunity for political cooperation, policy making and exchange of best practices at local and regional level. The work carried out by the Congress range from water and waste management and the safety of nuclear plants, to observation of elections and monitoring the development of local and regional democracy in our member states.

The Committee on Sustainable Development echoes this and provides a forum and platform for sharing experience, research and good practice relating to the pressing environmental issues which all our countries, regions and cities are being forced to face up to with an ever-growing urgency.

Indeed this urgency and the pertinence of sustainable issues to the well-being of European citizens was directly addressed at the Warsaw Summit of Council of Europe The Action Plan adopted by the Summit reflects the commitment of the Heads of States and Government of our 46 Member States to “improving the quality of life for citizens… through the further development and support of integrated policies on the environment in a sustainable development perspective”. 

However, the Council of Europe is not a newcomer to this field. Its commitment to environmental and sustainable development issues has a long history which parallels that of our Member States, particularly concerning the protection of our natural heritage. In 1979, long before the word ‘biodiversity’ entered into current usage, the Bern Convention on the Conservation of European Wildlife and Natural Habitats was signed and came into force in 1982 with 45 Contracting parties, including the European Commission. It had become apparent that, just as nature does not respect national borders, we would need to take international action in order to protect our nature.

The Convention aims to conserve wild flora and fauna and their natural habitats and to promote cooperation among states on nature conservation matters. Over the years it has become a major reference document and a dynamic tool with its Standing Committee preparing strategies and action plans for threatened species and processing over one hundred complaints of possible breaches of the Convention. 

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Biodiversity is the life on which we all depend and the world is today facing an unprecedented loss of biodiversity which threatens to undermine our planet’s life support system to the point of no return.

The reasons for biodiversity loss are well known: destruction of habitats, pollution, over-exploitation, invasive alien species and, most recently, climate change. The compound effect is terrifying and human activity has caused more extinctions in the last 100 years than would have happened due to natural processes.

Preserving our natural environment is essential because nature has an intrinsic value as a part of our culture and our history. Nature is also the foundation for our quality of life and our prosperity is underpinned by healthy ecosystems.

Sustainability is not ecological romanticism but a matter of public health, safety and basic resources and biodiversity loss is my loss and your loss. It is a drain on our economies and it reduces the quality of our lives. It is clear that ecosystem health is fundamental to any sustainable strategy for development.

As for the issue of climate change, whilst many public authorities and scientists have been trying to draw the publics’ attention to the reality of the threat for many years, it is only now capturing the worlds’ and the medias’ attention. Likewise for the threats to biodiversity, we the politicians must take the initiative to transform a matter of opinion into political action.

Climate change and the sustainable use of biodiversity are of equal importance for the future of our planet and there should be no doubt that stopping the loss of biodiversity is another of the most important challenges facing the planet. Indeed the two issues are closely linked and some possible solutions for the protection of biodiversity, such as reforestation, also offer a response to controlling climate change. However we must admit that stopping the loss of biodiversity is not yet a mainstream political priority in the way that climate change is.

In many ways this is quite surprising because our citizens – of all generations - are greatly interested in nature and wildlife issues and nature NGOs are very popular and have millions of members across Europe. This interest and enthusiasm needs to be tapped and transformed into positive synergies to working towards the goals we have been exploring during this conference.

As the degradation of ecosystems often reaches a point of no return – and because extinction is forever, in the Congress, we strongly believe that biodiversity demands the same kind of coordinated political effort, equivalent to the effort the international community is making on climate change. For climate change, we all know that without any further delay, we must join forces in order to avoid the fatal scenario of a global disaster.

With this in mind, the Congress’ Committee on Sustainable Development, while setting up our priorities of work for 2007-2008, decided to address the fundamental and serious threat of loss of biodiversity along with the issue of climate change. We will look in particular into the effects of urbanisation on biodiversity because the 20^th century has been a time for unprecedented urbanisation and the impact of this is a major concern which needs to be taken up for the future of our societies.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

We, elected representatives of our citizens, have here a moral obligation because when we destroy nature we are depriving future generations of options for their survival and development. It is our role, the role of local and regional authorities to have the political vision and to lead such an effort.

Tackling this issue needs integrated approaches and policy making involving all levels of governance, of all stakeholders. We politicians have a responsibility in reversing the trend and therefore in improving the information on what biodiversity loss actually means - economically, environmentally and ethically; our citizens will demand action.

As the global scale of the biodiversity issue demands concerted international action, I am very happy to participate in this Conference gathering not only European local and regional authorities but also representatives of our EU level partner, the Committee of the Regions and I would like to highlight here today that our organisations are committed to common work through an agreement we signed in 2005.

I would also like to congratulate Mr Van Gelder, member of the Congress Committee on Sustainable Development and rapporteur on the Opinion on Biodiversity of the Committee of Regions for the valuable work he has done on sustainable development within both organizations.

As for water and river basins, biodiversity knows no frontier or levels of government. Tackling the issue of biodiversity needs a specific status and an integrated approach and management structure which goes beyond national boundaries.  This is why the process of European integration – at the national level but also at the level of regional and local authorities, through their transfrontier cooperation and the creation of Euro-regions – is of paramount importance for better biodiversity management.

We know the scale of the problem. We know why biodiversity loss is such a threat. Europe, the EU and the Council of Europe have a duty to prevent the current levels of destruction.

With all this in mind it is, of course, whole-heartedly that I support the proposal made in the Conference Declaration to establish a task force of interested regions and other parties to elaborate the Brabant-Oisterwijk Appeal. The Congress will address this issue thoroughly and appeal to its Member States for greater involvement in preventing an irreversible loss of life and impoverishment of our planet.

We must join our forces because biodiversity loss concerns all of us – but most importantly, it concerns future generations. Environmental degradation which we are witnessing today will come back with a vengeance for our children and grandchildren. We cannot remain passive witnesses or bystanders; we must act now. Lets us pass to the future generations a living biodiversity!

Thank you very much.