Let’s act together to create a CLIMATE-RESILIENT LANDSACPE

Why we need to protect biodiversity

Healthy ecosystems provide food and food security, clean water, carbon sinks, and protection against natural disasters caused by climate change. They are essential for our long-term survival, wellbeing, prosperity, and security, as they are the basis for Europe’s resilience. But despite EU and international efforts, biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystems continue at an alarming rate, harming people, the economy, and the climate.¹⁾ During the Czech presidency of the EU Council, we started negotiations on the new European Nature Restoration Law. It admits that nature has been degraded to a large extent, and that we need to restore it in order to survive. Climate and biodiversity crises are two sides of the same coin, which is the “unsustainability” of our civilization’s way of life.

Political will and funding can be mobilised

Tackling biodiversity losses, protecting our nature, and doing everything possible to maintain sustainability are one of our most important common goals. Biodiversity is the absolute basis of life. Protecting and restoring biodiversity is the only way to preserve the quality and continuity of human life on Earth. The COVID-19 pandemic has once again shown us the fundamental importance of ecosystems and biodiversity for our health, and for our economic and social stability.

The rapid and massive response to the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrated that enormous political will and funding can be mobilized when humans perceive an existential threat. It is imperative that the climate and biodiversity crises be communicated as similar threats as well.²⁾

Protecting biodiversity is a global challenge, and the next decade will be decisive. Our wilderness is disappearing before our eyes, and more species are being put at risk of extinction than at any other point in human history. In the last four decades, global wildlife populations fell by 60% as a result of human activities³⁾. Global efforts have largely been insufficient up until now. Climate change is largely negatively affecting biodiversity in all ecosystems, including critical and vulnerable ones, as well as intact and wilderness areas. Nature cannot afford any half-measures or lack of ambition. In this spirit, the EU and Czechia, as the current Presidency of the Council, are committed to doing their utmost to reverse the negative trends.

We must shift from theory to action

For decades it has been known what we need to do. We have had a lot of international conventions, strategies, commitments, and instruments, but for a long time it has been obvious that it is still not enough. In the 30 years of its existence, our law on nature and landscape protection has never been fully implemented. We have settled for half-measures in nature conservation, which have only slowed the decline, but real change is admitting that the negative trends have not been reversed and coming up with a truly viable solution, which will finally reverse decades of exploitation.

It is evident that political attention and will is indeed shifting towards more recognition of nature and climate-related issues. We need to shift from theory to action.

If we are to have any chance at all of halting the decline in biodiversity, mitigating climate crisis, increasing water retention, being more resilient to climate change, etc. then we need large-scale implemented local solutions involving all actors. Conservationists alone cannot “save nature” on their own, despite their best efforts. They can offer experience with sustainable practices, but these cannot be merely applied in protected areas. The concept of sustainable land use, which can go hand in hand with nature conservation, is also appropriate given the current priority of food and energy security.