#NatureAlert Success

Greetings everybody, 

First of, Happy Friday! This week was the week of the hashtag for science, we had #WorldWetlandsDay, #WorldCancerDay, #WeCanICan and of course we had #NatureAlert. The last one was set up to combat the EU parliaments move to review the Nature Directives. Through a mixture of us all getting on social media and using the #NatureAlert and the Strasbourg European Parliament report we all managed to slim down the chances of the Nature Directives being changed. The Strasbourg report discussed in a great depth of detail the Mid Term Review of the 2020 Biodiversity strategy, and having read through every page I decided to present to you guys some of  the points made in the report. 

(The points chosen here are not by any means those of highest priority just simply the ones I wished to discuss and I would urge everyone read it them selves)

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Safeguarding Biodiversity is crucial if we have any hope of achieving our targets by 2020, especially as it directly relates to several of the Sustainability Development Goals and Aichi Target 11. The continued loss of our Biodiversity will also hit the economy as 1/6 jobs within the EU depend on some aspect of nature! 

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Lack of information was a major topic of concern within the report: 

1. Believes the cause for the slow progress made by the Member States on the implementation and enforcement of the EU environmental legislation is due to a lack of data detailing what stage of implementation they are at.  
2. Inadequate knowledge on the amount of funding and finance invested in nature conservation by each of the Member States. 
3. Challenge was set for the Commission and Member States to invest in more data collection as well as long term monitoring of both species and their habitats, particularly focusing on areas with limited or no data on them. Inadequate knowledge on the amount of funding and finance invested in nature conservation by each of the Member States. 

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Sections of the report highlighted the role that sustainable agriculture and forestry have to play in maintaining biodiversity: 

1. To date the effectiveness of the reconstructed CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) on the improvement of agricultural biodiversity has shown no significant development, however it is still in its early stages of development. 
2. Called all Member States to provide aid to farmers and forestry operators on how to achieve the 2020 targets. 
3. Member States have been asked to release data detailing whether or not they provide permission for the use of pesticides and fertilisers in the Ecological Focus Areas following the enforcement of EU regulations. 
4. Pollinators will benefit from the proposal of a European Initiative launch that will focus on how pesticides implants are affecting bees and other pollinators especially those that are neonicotinoid based. 
5. But why so much attention and calls to action for EU's pollinators, perhaps, its because the monetary value for our pollination services is estimated at €15 billion a year! 

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In the conclusion of the report, the possible review of the Nature Directives was officially opposed due to several resulting factors. Firstly, the modification of these directives would threaten achieving the 2020 Biodiversity strategies as it would bring about an extensive period of legal confusion. Overall, the directives show a high degree of adaptability in light of any technological and scientific advances, so there is no need to change them. 

Alright then, that was my highlights of the report pretty awesome right? But the thing I wanted to leave you guys with is...

WE DID IT! 

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The report quite literally stated the following....

[We urge] EU leaders to listen to the half a million citizens who have called for our strong nature protection laws to be upheld and better implemented.

#NatureAlert allowed all of us to come together and show just how much power we have over international level policy! Well done to every single one of you who let your voice be heard. 

Thats Biobunch, 
Over and out