Four ideas to boost EU conservation policy as 2020 nears

The European Union (EU) committed to halt the loss of biodiversity in its 2020 Biodiversity Strategy. However, all reports show conservation efforts are falling short of their objectives and the status of biodiversity in the EU continues to decline. Here, we propose four key avenues for the next Strategy, currently under discussion, to make EU conservation efforts more effective. First, we suggest the next Biodiversity Strategy should ensure legal coverage for threatened species not listed in the EU Habitats and Birds Directives, which currently cover only 16.4% of all threatened species. Second, halting biodiversity loss requires threatened species to be adequately managed. To this end, the potential of the extant Natura 2000 should be fully released. Already designated protected areas (PAs) hold more species than currently declared as target for management, leaving an opportunity to further manage more threatened species. Third, to address dynamism associated to climate and land use change, conservation management should be expanded outside PAs, using the planned network of Green Infrastructure. Fourth, while more funding is required to properly implement the Biodiversity Strategy, the improvements we suggest can be made more cost-effective by using systematic planning approaches and better integration of conservation policy in other sectorial policies, such as the Common Agriculture Policy. While existing policy mechanisms can already be used to implement some of these recommendations, revised policies should seek better integration of conservation into other sectorial policies, as well as efficient allocation and use of funds to increase the efficiency of conservation efforts.