18
Dec
2024
Watch
Urgent need for EU action to preserve nature and protect biodiversity to avoid the extinction of species (debate)
Mr President! Commissioner! Ladies and Gentlemen! In front of unfortunately quite empty rows, I am talking today about one of the most dramatic crises that threatens us as humanity: the extinction of species. Because without biodiversity there is no drinkable water, no clean air and no fertile soil. The last major mass extinction 66 million years ago was triggered by a meteorite and 75% of all animal species, including most dinosaurs, disappeared from Earth. Today we are in the sixth great mass extinction, and this time it is us, humanity – the meteorite that strikes, so to speak, in slow motion. Every day we lose up to 150 species. The decline in biodiversity is well visualized on this subject, which is the Living Planet index. These are species that are often not yet explored, whose role in the ecosystem is not yet known. And who doesn't care, he would also sit on a plane, from which occasionally a screw falls out here and there. Let me tell you specifically what this has to do with us. The bees die, the fruit tree bears no fruit, the harvest fails, food becomes scarce and prices rise. This means that the effects of species extinction affect us directly – we pay for them with our health and food security. And that's why the World Biodiversity Council calls on us in its Nexus report: We need to solve these interconnected problems with interconnected thinking. Get out of silo thinking! Species extinction, climate crisis, water crisis – all this has to do with each other. And we need to understand: We are part of nature. If we harm them, we also harm ourselves. That hits us right back. That is why we need to have these debates sooner rather than later. Especially here in Parliament.