Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies: Raising Europe’s level of ambition
Environment Committee Chair Pascal Canfin says commitments on farming and biodiversity in the Farm to Fork and Biodiversity Strategies must be implemented, including through the CAP reform.
Today the European Commission presented the Farm to Fork Strategy together with a Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The strategies aim to raise Europe's level of ambition by transforming its agricultural and food model and protect nature.
Following the adoption Pascal Canfin (FR, Renew), Chair of the European Parliament’s Committee on Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, said:
“The chapters of the European Green Deal on agriculture and nature are good but they need to be transformed into EU legislation.
The two new strategies presented today contain important new commitments such as tripling the rate of conversion to organic farming to reach 25 % of organic farming products on the EU market by 2030, a 50 % reduction in the use and risks of pesticides, a strengthening of food safety at our borders and a target to protect 30 % of both sea and land as natural areas.
While not all these objectives are binding yet, Parliament will work on them through the planned reform of the CAP, which will be the tool for implementing these ambitions.”
Background
The proposals for a Farm to Fork Strategy and Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 was presented on 20 May 2020. The strategies are part of the European Green Deal, which was presented by the Commission on 11 December 2019.
Earlier this year, the European Parliament adopted a resolution stating that the upcoming COP15 conference on biodiversity should be the biodiversity equivalent of the Paris agreement on climate change with legally binding targets and that the EU should lead the way.
The Farm to Fork Strategy aims at offering healthy, high quality and affordable diets to European consumers. It highlights the need for enhanced sustainability in all stages of the food chain and involving all actors.