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Report - Public support harmful to biodiversity

Report - Public support harmful to biodiversity

21/10/11

The Center for Strategic Analysis has published a report

"Public support harmful to biodiversity"

The public debate has sometimes tended to assimilate the conservation of biodiversity in the fate of iconic species threatened with extinction. We now know that the entire fauna and flora, the importance of protecting not only in a few "hot spots" around the world but even in our meadows and lawns. The challenge is of course the variety of species - and with it the genetic heritage of the planet - but also the richness of their interactions (pollination, predation, symbiosis) and the full scope of "services rendered" to humans.

Because even if they do not always realize the man has great service courtesy of ecosystems. It draws its food but also fuel and building materials. Beyond the property "ownership", biodiversity provides water purification, stabilization and moderation of the climate, control floods, droughts and epidemics. In short, biodiversity is vital we. But around the world shows that it declines at an accelerated rate for several decades, thus raising concerns profound changes in our environment.

Potential victim of the decline of biodiversity, the man is primarily responsible. The main factors of degradation of natural habitats are anthropogenic: the increasingly artificial soil, roads, parking lots, airports impermeable cover, habitat fragmentation caused by land transport infrastructure and the intensification agricultural practices, overexploitation of renewable natural resources, foremost among which fish stocks and fresh water pollution by nitrates, pesticides and other heavy metals, the introduction of invasive alien species and climate change ...

All these pressures gradually reduce biodiversity. Almost all sectors of our economy are concerned: industry, agriculture, drilling and quarrying, transport, tourism, housing, recreation, proximity, etc.. While all have already undertaken significant efforts to reduce emissions of greenhouse gases, their actions in terms of biodiversity conservation remain behind.

Governments have a duty to help clear the backlog. Now they have a field of investigation still unexplored: for the sake of virtue as well as efficiency, they can scrutinize all public support, which by their side effects or perverse, could prove detrimental to the maintenance of of biodiversity. Such a review was considered a priority by the Convention on Biological Diversity, held in Nagoya in 2010. The European Commission in its Communication of 20 September 2011, also calls for the year 2020, we remove "harmful subsidies to the environment, taking due account of the impact on those most in need . " At the national level, this goal is one of the commitments made ​​at the Grenelle Environment Forum and the National Biodiversity Strategy presented May 19, 2011 by the Minister of Ecology.

The work of the working group chaired by William Sainteny part of that context. The experts were given the task to identify the supports the causal link with the decline of biodiversity is demonstrated, and suggest avenues for reform.

The working group has the merit of opening many avenues for reform, whether general guidelines or specific recommendations, achievable in the short term. Each requires policy makers to change their look, and each raises the question of the difficulty of reconciling the protection of biodiversity and economic and social requirements. Let us hope therefore that this work, which is in line with the report's reference Bernard Chevassus-au-Louis on the value of biodiversity, provide food for many discussions and reforms in the coming years.

  • President : William Sainteny
  • Vice President : Jean-Michel Salles
  • Rapporteurs : Peggy Dubouchez, Géraldine Ducos, Marcy and Erwan Paul Vincent
  • Coordinators : Auverlot Dominique and Jean-Luc Pujol

Press Contact:
Jean-Michel Roullé, Head of Communications
Tel. 01 42 75 61 37 - jean-michel.roulle@strategie.gouv.fr

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