生物多樣性流失 歐盟每年損失4500億歐元

A silent crisis of biodiversity loss is costing the European Union 450 billion euros (US$590 billion) a year, adding to the stress of the ongoing financial crisis, the European Parliament heard on Tuesday.

The loss estimate was presented in a draft report to the Environment Committee by Dutch MEP Gerben-Jan Gerbrandy, Special Rapporteur on Biodiversity of the European Parliament. He represents the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats for Europe, ALDE, the third largest political group in the European Parliament.

"A quarter of the plants and animals in Europe are in danger of extinction," Gerbrandy told the committee. "This destruction of nature will cost about three percent annual economic growth - equivalent to that which Europe needs at present to rescue the Euro. Biodiversity loss, though, continues year after year."

Gerbrandy advocates the "No Net Loss" principle whereby governments and companies must make up for the damage they cause to nature through the funding of compensation projects - similar to the "Polluter Pays" principle.

"Natural capital needs to be integrated into the national accounts," said Gerbrandy. "It is profitable to cut down a forest. We need to make it economically worthwhile to preserve it too."

"This is the most effective way to stop the decline of biodiversity. Subsidies that cause damage to nature must be eliminated as soon as possible. Now we pay twice: we first finance the destruction of nature and then pay to fix it."

Europe's natural heritage is showing a steep decline, according to the latest research, published last November. The European Red List, compiled by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature as part of the IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, assessed a about 6,000 species of Europe's native animals and plants, finding that a large proportion of molluscs, freshwater fish and vascular plants are now at risk of extinction to some degree.

The assessment shows that 44 percent of all freshwater molluscs, 37 percent of freshwater fish, 23 percent of amphibians, 20 percent of a selection of terrestrial molluscs, 19 percent of reptiles, 15 percent of mammals and of dragonflies, 13 percent of birds, 11 percent of a selection of saproxylic beetles, nine percent of butterflies, and 467 species of vascular plant species are now under threat.

Included in the vascular plant category are the wild relatives of crop plants which are vital for food security yet are often neglected in terms of conservation. The Critically Endangered Beta patula is a close wild relative of cultivated beets and an important gene source for enhancing virus resistance.

Other crop plants that show worrying levels of threat are sugar beet, wheat, oat and lettuce - all economically important crops in Europe.

Freshwater molluscs are the most threatened group assessed so far. Spengler's freshwater mussel, Margaritifera auricularia, once widespread, is now restricted to a handful of rivers in France and Spain. Currently listed as Critically Endangered, it was considered to be nearly extinct in the 1980s. The species is one of two for which a European-level Action Plan was designed, and there are ongoing conservation programs which allow hope for its future.

Freshwater fish across the European Union are threatened by pollution, overfishing, habitat loss and the introduction of alien species. Sturgeon are particularly at risk, with all but one of the eight European species now classed Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List.

One year into this United Nations Decade on Biodiversity, all of these concerns are on the radar of a brand new executive secretary of the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, Braulio Ferreira de Souza Dias of Brazil.

The Convention on Biological Diversity was opened for signature at the Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in June 1992 and entered into force on December 29, 1993.