The protection of biodiversity remains an important issue in Europe. The establishment of the Natura 2000 network and the implementation of related policies in the Member States have made a major contribution to this aim. Despite this success, the target to stop the loss of biodiversity in the EU by 2010 was not reached. Sandra Naumann, a Fellow at Ecologic Institute, spoke to a GIZ delegation from China about the developments and perspectives of European biodiversity policy and its implementation in Germany.

The presentation provided a brief outlook on the status and trends of biodiversity in Europe and highlighted the reasons for missing the 2010 target. Core issues included the developments and milestones of the EU biodiversity policy in the last 20 years and the new strategy proposed by the EU on ‘Halting the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020’. Of particular interest to the Chinese delegation were questions about the practical implementation of EU policies in Germany. The presentation and subsequent discussion with the participants focused on topics such as the establishment and management of protected areas, monitoring and quality control and funding instruments.

The presentation is available for download in English [pdf, 1.9 MB] and Chinese [pdf, 1,8 MB].

Further lectures:

• Introduction to European and German Environmental Policy
  (R. Andreas Kraemer, Director Ecologic Institute)
• Security through Energy Policy: Germany's Strategy in Context
  (R. Andreas Kraemer, Director Ecologic Institute)
• Agricultural and Rural Development Policy in the EU and Germany: Recent Developments and Perspectives
  (Ruta Landgrebe, Ecologic Institute, Fellow)
• European and German Waste Policy
  (Alexander Neubauer, Ecologic Institute, Coordinator European Research, Senior Fellow)
• Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control
  (Alexander Neubauer, Ecologic Institute, Coordinator European Research, Senior Fellow)
• General Overview of European Water Policy
  (Dr. Manuel Lago, Fellow, Environmental/Natural Resources Economics)
• International cooperation for transboundary water pollution control: The Rhine River example with focus on the Rhine/Danube-Basin
  (Dr. Darla Nickel, Coordinator Water Studies, Fellow)
• Gaining public acceptance: case study waste recovery
  (Andreas Fußer, Hand & Fußer Konzept und Kommunikation)