The recent European Commission announcement that the EU was unlikely to meet its 2010 target of halting biodiversity loss has ‘deeply concerned’ environment Ministers, who were meeting last week in Luxembourg. As a result the Ministers have called for better evaluation of EU biodiversity protection policies and for deeper integration of 'ecosystem services' into the bloc’s policies in order to both better understand the causes for biodiversity loss and of course ultimately to halt the problem.

Two areas suggested by the Ministers for investigation were rural development and fisheries policies, whilst they have also requested that the Commission assess the effectiveness of the NATURA 2000 network of protected areas. In terms of rural development this means ensuring better use of the CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) as a means of promoting biodiversity conservation, whilst ensuring ‘sustainable levels’ of fish stocks under a reform of the CFP (Common Fisheries Policy) is another recommendation.

In addition there should also be a greater understanding of how our consumption of products such as meat and soy beans affects biodiversity loss, whilst at a global scale Ministers have called for biodiversity protection measures to be incorporated into development strategies.

BirdLife International has however condemned the findings by Ministers as ‘wishful thinking’, noting how in reality ‘the same governments continue to follow old-fashioned recipes in stimulating short-term growth at the expense of future generations, the global poor and last but not least, future public budgets.’

The EEA (European Environmental Agency) has meanwhile suggested that better protection measures need to be implemented into agricultural, forestry and fisheries policies, with a recommendation to judge prices of goods and services according to their environmental impact. There should be ‘better ecosystem accounting, which indicates the real value of the natural capital that we deplete through our economic activity’.