Call to strengthen and better enforce European birds and wild habitats, fauna and flora directives

  • Posted on: 10 September 2015
  • By: admin

Ecological Societies call to strengthen and better enforce European birds and wild habitats, fauna and flora directives

European Ecologists urge the European Union to strengthen the correct and effective application of the Birds and Conservation of natural habitats and wild fauna and flora

The 10th of August 2015, during the 100th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of America, the Presidents of ten Ecological Societies and of two major Federations of Ecological Societies, representing over 20,000 scientists from over 100 countries and over 40 national ecological societies, and all major Societies from Europe, met to address key issues related to the field of Ecological Science.

The Presidents shared their concern about the severe and ongoing erosion of global natural assets including species, habitats, ecosystem processes that maintain services critical for human well-being in addition to their intrinsic values.

Aware of the current “Fitness check” of the Birds and Conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and floradirectives conducted by the European Commission, the European representatives emphasized the conceptual and practical advances made thanks to these two Directives in preventing even further losses, and in some instances, in restoring of populations or habitats.

The representatives from Europe call on the European Union to use this process to strengthen the Directives and to allocate adequate funding to allow their correct and effective application. This should be done based on the knowledge acquired through research in ecology since their implementation and through evaluation of hands-on actions that had stemmed from these Directives.   

Signatories

Non-European societies expressing support for this statement

This initiative is also getting the full support of the European section of the Society for Conservation Biology, a society representing over 4,000 scientists.