Threat to European biodiversity ‘as serious as climate change’

The natural world across Europe is suffering a crisis as serious as the threat of climate change, Europe’s environment chiefs are to warn this week at a major biodiversity conference in Athens.

A report from the European Environment Agency to be published next month sounds the alarm that most species and habitats across the continent are in poor condition and the risk of extinction continues to rise. The centre for Ecology & Hydrology said that the species at risk in the UK range from insects like the honeybee to mammals and birds such as otters and eagles. The losses threaten to undermine vital ecosystem services like clean water and fertile soils, which support both quality of life and the economy.
Much of the European economy relies on the fact that we have natural resources supporting everything. Some of the losses of wildlife and habitats are irreversible.

The loss of biodiversity is a global threat that is just as serious as climate change. The reasons we are losing biodiversity are well known: destruction of habitats, pollution, over-exploitation, invasive species and most recently climate change.

Globally, last year's annual "red list" of endangered species from the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) warned that the world's mammals face an extinction crisis, with almost one in four of 5,487 known species at risk of disappearing forever.