News
About
Activities
Documents
Bulletin
Who's who
Funding
Linkages
Monitor
Meetings
Discussion |
The Strategy Guide
the Clearing-House for the Pan-European Biological and Landscape
Diversity Strategy
| About
the Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy |
|
|
The
Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity Strategy presents
an innovative and proactive approach to stop and reverse the degradation
of biological and landscape diversity values in Europe. Innovative,
because it addresses all biological and landscape initiatives under
one European approach. It is proactive, because it promotes the
integration of biological and landscape diversity considerations
into social and economic sectors. The Strategy reinforces the implementation
of existing measures and identifies additional actions that need
to be taken over the next two decades. The Strategy also provides
a framework to promote a consistent approach and common objectives
for national and regional action to implement the Convention on
Biological Diversity. |
History
Many
important initiatives have already been taken to conserve Europe's natural
heritage, but - in spite of efforts by government bodies, non-governmental
organizations and individuals - the biological and landscape diversity of
Europe continues to decline at a rapid rate. An analysis of gaps in existing
nature conservation initiatives and mechanisms indicates that they will
be better used when:
- a coherent framework
is set up to mobilize all existing initiatives towards the one goal
of conserving biological and landscape diversity throughout Europe;
- key factors contributing
to the deterioration of biological diversity and landscape diversity
are recognized, addressed or influenced.
Recent political and
social developments in Europe offer a number of unique opportunities to
act in favour of the conservation of biological and landscape diversity.
Throughout the continent forestry and agricultural and forestry practices
are changing; former military, industrial and agricultural land is becoming
available and has a potential for nature conservation; international cooperation
is increasing in all areas, and there is growing public awareness and concern
for biological and landscape diversity issues. It is recognized in the European
context that:
- conserving Europe's
natural heritage is a basic necessity for securing sustainable development
in Europe;
- conserving Europe's
natural heritage is a shared responsibility of all European countries
and regions and a task which can only be successfully undertaken in
a Pan-European context;
- Pan-European cooperation
will strengthen the effectiveness of national action under the Convention
on Biological Diversity;
- the issue of landscape
diversity is as yet not adequately integrated into mechanisms aimed
at protecting and enhancing the natural environment;
- public attitude,
awareness and understanding of conservation issues is a very effective
safeguard for maintaining biological and landscape diversity;
- far-reaching political
and economical changes over the past decade require new answers to new
challenges in land use and use of natural resources;
- sustainable management
of the natural environment as an economic resource is a prerequisite
for continued economic and social development and prosperity in Europe;
- the threats to
biological and landscape diversity require urgent action that both integrates
and builds on existing national and international activity;
- the decline in
Europe's natural environment has been caused by economic and social
action, and thus the integration of conservation considerations into
socio-economic policy is a prerequisite for restoring and maintaining
biological and landscape diversity;
- by facilitating
local initiatives towards sustainable development, involving all land
users, a new balance may be achieved in rural areas between social and
economic dynamics and ecological stability.
These
considerations have led the Council of Europe
in 1994, in cooperation with other national and international organizations,
both governmental and non-governmental, to take the initiative to originally
develop the Pan-European Biological and Landscape
Diversity Strategy.The Pan-European Biological and Landscape Diversity
Strategy is a European response to support implementation of the Convention
on Biological Diversity. The Strategy was proposed in the Maastricht
Declaration Conserving
Europe's Natural Heritage (1993), and builds on the Bern Convention,
the European Conservation Strategy (1990), the Dobrís and Lucerne
Ministerial Conferences (1991, 1993), UNCED (1992), and other existing
initiatives and programmes. The Strategy aims to strengthen the application
of the Bern Convention in relation to the Convention on Biological Diversity,
following the Monaco Declaration. The drafting group for the Strategy
was lead by ECNC.The Strategy introduces a coordinating and unifying framework
for strengthening and building on existing initiatives. It does not aim
to introduce new legislation or programmes, but to fill gaps where initiatives
are not implemented to their full potential or fail to achieve desired
objectives. Furthermore, the Strategy seeks to more effectively integrate
ecological considerations into all relevant socio-economic sectors, and
will increase public participation in, and awareness and acceptance of,
conservation interests.
Following the decision
from the Budapest Conference in 2002 the First
Action Plan was revised and resulted in the Rolling
Work Programme.
The Strategy's vision
The Strategy's vision for the future is to achieve conservation and sustainable
use of biological and landscape diversity for the whole continent of Europe
and all its regions within 20 years, and will seek to ensure that:
- the threats to
Europe's biological and landscape diversity are reduced substantially,
or where possible removed;
- the resilience
of European biological and landscape diversity is increased;
- the ecological
coherence of Europe as a whole is strengthened;
- public involvement
and awareness concerning biological and landscape diversity issues is
increased considerably.
Because of the
urgent need to deal with certain pressing problems, the Strategy will be
implemented through a series of five year Action Plans. The Action Plans
address the issues that are considered most pressing and important. They
make optimal use of opportunities as they occur over the next 20 years by
prioritising the themes that need to be addressed at the European level
and the ecosystems, landscapes, species and regions that require priority
attention. |
