A new, EU-wide Biodiversity Strategy

The European Union has launched its new strategy on Biodiversity for 2030, with a real focus on fixing our broken relationship with nature and to journey upon a path to recovery for the benefit of the people, the climate and the planet.

This new strategy will establish protected areas for at least 30% of land in Europe and 30% of sea in Europe, as well as restoring degraded ecosystems at land and sea across the whole of Europe by increasing organic farming and biodiversity-rich landscape features on agricultural land, halting and reversing the decline of pollinators, reducing the use and risk of pesticides by 50% by 2030, restoring at least 25,000 km of EU rivers to a free-flowing state and even planting 3 billion trees by 2030.

Furthermore, the EU plans to unlock €20 billion per year for biodiversity through various sources, including EU funds and national and private funding. Natural capital and biodiversity considerations will be integrated into business practices. The strategy will put the EU in a leading position in the world in addressing the global biodiversity crisis. The Commission will mobilise all tools of external action and international partnerships for an ambitious new UN Global Biodiversity Framework at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity in 2021.

“Making nature healthy again is key to our physical and mental wellbeing and is an ally in the fight against climate change and disease outbreaks. It is at the heart of our growth strategy, the European Green Deal, and is part of a European recovery that gives more back to the planet than it takes away.” Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission

For more details on the Biodiversity strategy, factsheets and the full report from the EU (available in many languages), please visit the EU's Biodiversity Strategy website.