06 Jun 2017 CONFERENCE EU ACTION PLAN NATURE DIRECTIVES

To follow up on the presentation of the EU Action Plan on Nature, People and the Economy, the European Commission, the Committee of the Regions and the Maltese Presidency jointly hosted a conference on 6 June 2017 on the EU Nature Directives Action Plan.

A wide range of stakeholders came together to discuss the Plan and its implementation. FACE, together with other stakeholders, welcomed the opportunity to discuss it.

The plan is ambitious and has to be achieved in a short period (present-2019), so it will need the necessary funding for better implementation. FACE also welcomes the updating of necessary guidance documents, better stakeholder consultation and the need to take account of economic, social, cultural and regional requirements.

There were a lot of questions on how to reduce the impact of agriculture on biodiversity. This is a subject that is important for FACE in the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Another hunting-related subject that was discussed was the management of large carnivores. A report of the conference can be found here.

On 19 June 2017, Member States adopted the EU Action Plan on the Nature Directives. See press release here. FACE welcomes the position of Member States who called to: Recognise the need for flexibility during implementation; the need to take into account specific national circumstances to reduce unnecessary conflicts and problems between nature protection and socioeconomic activities, and the need to take into account the practical challenges resulting from the application of the annexes to the Directives;