Bringing nature
back into our lives
EU 2030 Biodiversity strategy
“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
May 2020
#EUGreenDeal
Why do we need to protect biodiversity?
Biodiversity is essential for life. Our planet and the economy depend on it.
When nature is healthy, it protects and provides.
Biodiversity and ecosystems provide us with food, health and medicines, materials,
recreation, and wellbeing. They filter our air and water, help keep the climate in balance,
convert waste back into resources, pollinate and fertilise crops and much more.
Nature provides for businesses:
half of global GDP, €40 trillion,
depends on nature.
©Pixaweb
The global population of wild species has fallen by
60% over the last 40 years.
1 million species are at risk of extinction.
©Pexels
Climate change, the unprecedented
loss of biodiversity, and the spread of
devastating pandemics are sending
a clear message: it is time to fix our
broken relationship with nature.
The Biodiversity Strategy will put
Europe’s biodiversity on the path to
recovery by 2030, for the benefit of
people, climate and the planet.
We are losing nature like never before because of unsustainable human activities.
Restoring forests, soils and wetlands and creating green spaces in cities is
essential to achieve the climate change mitigation needed by 2030.
The new EU-wide Biodiversity Strategy will:
30%
of land in
Europe
30%
of sea in
Europe
Restoring at least
25 000 km of EU
rivers to a freeflowing
state
Reducing the
use and risk of
pesticides by
50% by 2030
Planting 3 billion
trees by 2030
Halting and
reversing the
decline of
pollinators
Unlock 20 billion EUR/year for biodiversity through various sources, including EU
funds, national and private funding. Natural capital and biodiversity considerations will be
integrated into business practices.
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.
© European Union, 2020
Reuse of this document is allowed, provided appropriate credit is given and any changes are indicated (Creative Commons Attribution
4.0 International license). For any use or reproduction of elements that are not owned by the EU, permission may need to be sought
directly from the respective right holders.
All images © European Union, unless otherwise stated. Icons © Flaticon – all rights reserved.
Biodiversity loss and the climate crisis are interdependent and they exacerbate
each other.
Restore degraded ecosystems at land and sea across the whole of Europe by:
Establish protected areas for at least:
With stricter protection of
remaining EU primary and oldgrowth
forests legally binding
nature restoration targets in 2021.
Increasing organic
farming and biodiversityrich
landscape features
on agricultural land