From this Monday until September 24, 2024, Belgians are invited to give their opinion on Belgium’s new national strategy on biodiversity, a text which aims to align national objectives with the global framework for biodiversity Kunming-Montreal and on the European Union’s strategy for species conservation. Citizens, organizations and businesses are invited to contribute to what should result in an important step in strengthening Belgium’s commitment to the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of all animal species. and plants as well as the ecosystems on which they depend.
”Now that my career is coming to an end, I will tell you frankly: the protection of biodiversity is a question of survival for humanity”, declared Anne Teller, biodiversity policy officer at the Directorate-General for the Environment of the European Commission this Monday at the Royal Belgian Institute of Natural Sciences. Scientists are clear: if the decline in biodiversity continues, humanity will no longer have access to the many essential services offered by nature such as access to drinking water, food or medicinal resources, oxygen necessary for life. The danger is therefore enormous. Beyond the preservation of such an environment or such an emblematic species, it is an issue as existential for the human species as that of climate change.
The Twenty-seven definitively adopt the law to restore nature
A third of Belgian rare, threatened or extinct species
According to WWF’s Living Planet 2020 report, almost a third of the 7,725 native species listed in Belgium are rare, threatened or extinct at the national level. Our country is therefore far from being spared from the decline of species.
The global causes of the decline are known: resource extraction, overfishing, climate change, the development of invasive exotic species and intensive agricultural practices are singled out. According to the 2024 edition of the Global Resource Outlook report, resource extraction alone is responsible for 80% of species decline. Furthermore, reports claim that inaction on biodiversity would cost more than implementing conservation projects.
Faced with this observation, Europe has developed its strategy in favor of biodiversity for 2030, a text which notably plans to protect at least 30% of lands and oceans, to restore damaged ecosystems and to prevent all new attacks on nature, reverse the decline of pollinators and reduce the use of pesticides by at least 50%. But so that these major objectives do not end their lives in a drawer, Belgium must work on its own national strategy.
As nothing is simple in our country, skills in matters of biodiversity are divided between different levels of power. For example, everything related to the North Sea and the importation of invasive alien species is in the hands of the federal level while forest management, agriculture, fishing and nature conservation are regional skills. Coordination between levels of power and regions through a common strategy is therefore essential in this context.
In terms of preserving biodiversity: “There has been a lot of progress but also disappointments over the last five years”
The private sector solicited
Among the objectives of the Belgian strategy are the protection, maintenance and restoration of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Belgium to a favorable conservation status. To achieve this, the plan plans to contribute to the restoration of 30% of degraded ecosystems compared to 10% in the previous plan, the strict protection of 10% of the territory and the protection of 30% of marine areas. The strategy also plans to encourage the private sector to communicate transparently on its impact on biodiversity, to limit overconsumption and waste and to promote sustainable consumption.
Concretely, all citizens can consult the new strategy on the FPS Health website and give their opinion either by filling out an online form or by post. The responses will then be analyzed and taken into consideration to develop the final version of the strategy.
