On 8 June, the European Parliament adopted a resolution on the “EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030: Making more space for nature in our lives” by a clear majority. The strategy aims to restore, make more resilient and adequately protect European ecosystems by 2050.

In the future, this will mean an expansion of protected areas to 30% of the EU’s territory. In so-called areas of high biodiversity value, additional protection will take effect: Here, the European Commission wants to allow no cultivation whatsoever on 10% of land and 10% of the sea.

What sounds promising in theory, however, is viewed critically by two of our MEPs, Ulrike Müller (Free Voters) and Izaskun Bilbao Barandica (EAJ-PNV): “We have to pass laws to protect biodiversity more and protect it better, there is no doubt about that. But there is also no doubt that we need to do this in consultation with the people who work in, with, on and for the land and the sea,” said Izaskun Bilbao Barandica.

Ulrike Müller adds: “The fact of the matter is that we are cultivating more and more land and at the same time have to preserve it for future generations. This can only succeed if we treat farmers and foresters not as a problem but as partners. Central to this is a clear commitment to their property rights. This must be the starting point of our European biodiversity strategy.”

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