European ecosystems and wildlife are in “serious, continuing decline” due to unsustainable farming and forestry, urban sprawl, and pollution, according to a new report from the European Environment Agency. The analysis found that 80 percent of the continent’s key habitats are in poor or bad condition, and just a quarter of species are considered to have a good conservation status. The declines come despite a decades-long, continent-wide push to preserve biodiversity.
The new assessment — which incorporates data on more than 2,000 species and habitats across the continent — “is the most comprehensive health check of nature ever undertaken in the EU,” Virginijus Sinkevičius, European Commissioner for the Environment, Oceans, and Fisheries, said in a statement. “It shows very clearly that we are still losing our vital life support system.”
https://e360.yale.edu/digest/majority-of-europes-species-ecosystems-in-poor-condition-report-finds
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