three questions to…Humberto Delgado Rosa

How do you see the implementation & monitoring of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030 in the next years? Which priorities do you see as more urgent?

The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 calls for the Commission to put in place, by 2021, a new governance framework aiming, among others, to map biodiversity obligations and commitments and set out a roadmap for implementation. As part of this new framework, the Commission is developing a monitoring and review mechanism. For this, a clear set of agreed indicators will enable regular progress assessment and set out corrective action if necessary. This mechanism will feed the monitoring of the 8th Environmental Action Programme, the European Green Deal, and international processes like the SDGs.

In 2023, the Commission will assess the effectiveness of the biodiversity governance framework and consider whether a more binding approach may be needed, such as for climate policy.

To ensure full political ownership of this strategy, the Commission will suggest a standing progress point at the Council and at the European Parliament. The idea is to have a yearly assessment of progress on the quantified commitments and whether the EU and the Member States are on track.

The governance will also need to be streamlined with the commitments made by the EU and its Member States at global level, under the Convention on Biological Diversity, to limit the reporting burden for the Member States. The Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity, launched at the 2020 Green Week, has an important role to play in supporting the monitoring and review mechanism at EU and global level. It will provide a one-stop shop for key information about biodiversity, a dashboard monitoring progress under the EU Biodiversity Strategy and an interface for policy-makers, scientists and stakeholders to network, share research results and channel them more effectively to support EU policies.

To cut a long story short, the priorities would be on ensuring transparency, monitoring, accountability and synergies for policy-making.

What is the EU's plan to act as a global leader and apply its Biodiversity Strategy ambitions at the next CBD CoP in China? How will the EU work to ensure the next framework includes robust accountability mechanisms and addresses financing, with creative options such as debt for nature swaps?

Indeed, the fifth Global Biodiversity Outlook found that none of the Aichi Biodiversity Targets agreed in 2010 have been achieved in full. On many elements there was progress, and where actions were taken, they have generally had a positive impact. But the drivers of loss increased more than those actions, and we currently see unprecedented rates of biodiversity loss. We find ourselves in a state of ecological emergency, inextricably linked to the climate emergency.

The EU calls for an ambitious post-2020 global biodiversity framework that puts nature on a path to recovery by 2030, through ambitious and measurable targets. This must ensure healthy ecosystems and no more avoidable human-induced extinctions of species by 2050.

The framework should contain a much stronger monitoring and review mechanism with a regular cycle where Parties commit to take actions, review their progress in implementation and ratchet-up efforts if needed. Reviews should be based on an independent, science-based gap-analysis and foresight process. For transparency, all Parties should report on a set of common headline indicators, allowing to stocktake and assess progress at global level.

The framework should provide clarity on the mobilisation of the resources for implementation from all sources, domestic and international, public and private. We encourage the development of innovative financing instruments, though it is not for the Commission to advise on debt-for-nature swaps. We should eliminate harmful subsidies, increase efficiency of our spending and urgently address the drivers of biodiversity loss in order to reduce the cost of restoring damage.

The framework should effectively address the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the utilisation of genetic resources. Finally, the framework should help safeguarding the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities and ensure full and effective participation of stakeholders.

To convince the rest of the world of these objectives, we want first to lead by example. For such, the new EU Biodiversity Strategy contains ambitious goals and actions within the EU.

Further, biodiversity and the global framework will be part of all our external policies. We will use all our diplomatic means to reach an international agreement on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction. We fight illegal, unregulated and unreported fishing. We negotiate for large marine protected areas in the Antarctic. We will crack down on illegal wildlife trafficking, tighten rules on ivory trade, implement and enforce the biodiversity provisions in trade agreements. We are preparing measures to avoid or minimise the placing of products associated with deforestation and forest degradation on the EU market.

I fully understand the scepticism on how to ensure that we will not fail on these new goals and targets. However, the negative impacts of biodiversity loss are increasingly felt, including by the private sector; the interlinkages with climate change are increasingly visible. Science tells that we need transformational change over the next 10 years. An ambitious framework, with strong provisions on resource mobilisation and on monitoring and review, will be instrumental to achieve much stronger implementation than what we have seen so far.

The Commission is strongly engaged up to the highest levels, as testified by our President Ursula von der Leyen’s endorsement of the Leaders Pledge for Nature at the UN Biodiversity Summit in September. This pledge, endorsed by the EU and 80 countries, reflects growing political recognition at the highest level of the urgency to act. So let us continue the work to materialize the transformational change that is needed.

The Commission is meant to propose a new action plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems by 2021, what would be the role of DG Environment and what actions do you see as a priority?

The new action plan to conserve fisheries resources and protect marine ecosystems will highlight areas where further action is needed as regards the protection of sensitive species and habitats, as well as to fishing gear that potentially has a negative impact on the marine environment and seabed. It will be set out in a Communication which will be adopted by the College of Commissioners. DG MARE is the lead service and is working closely with DG ENV as associated service.

Indeed, the EU Biodiversity Strategy is of relevance to the Common Fisheries Policy as it contains cross-references to already existing targets and obligations, such as the elimination or reduction of by-catch of sensitive species. In this context, the new action plan will identify where further action and conservation measures are needed to minimise the impact of fishing activities on marine ecosystems.

The Commission’s priority is to identify the areas, based on robust scientific evidence, where corrective actions are needed and push Member States in taking appropriate conservation and management measures under the Common Fisheries Policy. The Commission is currently assessing the scientific evidence available and has launched a consultation of stakeholders.