Transforming unsustainable land management

New European green deal must focus on sustainable land management

Immediate action is needed to stop the continuing degradation of land, disappearance of forests and wetlands, sharp rise in forest fires, and unprecedented species loss, panellists told a 25 September Friends of Europe ‘Café Crossfire’ debate in Brussels.

The situation is urgent, event moderator, Friends of Europe Director of Insights Dharmendra Kanani said. Citing the European Commission 2019 Communication on Forests, he highlighted that every year, a forest area the size of Greece.

“The challenges are huge,” Luc Bas, European Regional Director, International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), agreed. “After 100 years of uncontrolled consumption, our time is up.”

The new European Commission, that will take office on 1 November, will be central in providing solutions, said Koko Warner, lead author of the IPCC’s latest (August 2019) Special Report on ‘Climate Change and Land’, and also the UNFCCC’s Manager for Impacts, Vulnerabilities and Risks.

“A large decision making body like the EU is incredibly powerful, a lot can be achieved with policy,” she made clear. “This next five years is the decision-making period that will determine the trajectory into the future.”

Today, agricultural expansion is the most widespread form of land-use change, the conference heard. More than a third of arable land surface is used for cropping or animal husbandry. Better land management should therefore be a key priority of Commission President-elect Ursula von der Leyen’s promised ‘new European Green Deal’, which will also include a ‘Biodiversity Strategy for 2030’.

For Humberto Delgado Rosa, Director for Natural Capital at the Commission’s Directorate-General for the Environment, more measurability on biodiversity was essential. Urging all parties to bring commitments to the table, he emphasised: “Protecting and restoring ecosystems must guide all of our work.”

A greener Common Agricultural Policy must also be part of the new green deal, protecting nature and farmers instead of just agri-business, the IUCN’s Bas made clear. He hoped Commissioner-designate for Trade, Phil Hogan, with his recent experience as Agriculture Commissioner, could achieve this goal: “He has a huge opportunity to get this right.”

Finance is key to achieve land management and biodiversity goals, Bas continued. In addition, he called for a carbon tax linked to carbon pricing. “There is enough money,” he told the meeting. “But we need to see it gets in the right place, it’s about getting the taxation right.”

Friends of Europe’s Kanani agreed that if funds were redirected, there should be enough. The private sector must understand the value of ecosystem services, especially when the facts show there is a clear economic argument, he maintained: “Every one dollar investigated in sustainable land management yields three to six dollars in terms of ecosystem services.”

But unfortunately there is a catch, he said: “One would think that science, data, knowledge and learning should lead to sustainable social progress. But we find ourselves in a situation where politics and profit trump the need for urgent action.”