Environmental Crime Directive. On 29th December 2020, WCS EU submitted comments on the roadmap regarding the revision of the EU Environmental Crime Directive, calling on the EU and its Member States to treat wildlife and forest crimes as serious criminal offences. To access the full comments please click here.
Deforestation and Forest Degradation. On 10th December 2020, WCS EU submitted a response to the public consultation on ‘Deforestation and Forest Degradation – Reducing the Impact of Products Placed on the EU Market’. To access the full response please click here.
Biodiversity Finance. On 16th November 2020, WCS and other NGOs released a joint statement welcoming the Joint Declaration by all Public Development Banks in the World signed at the Finance in Common Summit in Paris. To access the joint statement please click here.
EU ivory trade. On 9th November 2020, WCS EU and other NGOs sent a letter to the EU ENV Commissioner and to all EU ENV Ministers to request the revision of the proposal currently on the table by the European Commission to deliver on the longstanding request of the European Parliament and EU citizens, and respond to the new EU Council Conclusions asking for the closure of the EU domestic ivory market. To access the letter please click here.
Stakeholder meeting on ivory trade in the EU. On 28th October 2020, the EU organised a stakeholder meeting to bring together EU Member States, experts, policy makers and organisations, to discuss the latest European Commission's proposal on the revision of EU rules on ivory trade. WCS EU and other NGOs submitted a joint written statement in advance of the meeting. To access the full statement please click here.
EU Trade Policy Review. On 21st October 2020, WCS EU submitted a response to the public consultation on the EU Trade Policy Review process, calling for wildlife trade and wildlife trafficking to be addressed in all EU trade agreements, and for non-compliance with provisions on biodiversity to be associated with consequences, whether through trade or other sanctions. To access the full statement please click here.
Preventing future zoonotic disease. On 6th October 2020, WCS EU and other NGOs sent a letter to the EU ENV and HEALTH Commissioners to express our concern that, to date, the European Commission has been failing to support the strong global measures needed to prevent future zoonotic disease outbreaks such as COVID-19. To access the letter please click here.
Global Biodiversity Finance. On 7th September 2020, WCS EU and other NGOs sent a letter to Executive Vice-President Frans Timmermans and other relevant EU Commissioners calling for an EU global leadership on biodiversity finance. To access the letter please click here.
Post 2020 EU budget. On 9th July 2020, WCS EU and other NGOs released a public statement calling for the EU to prioritise biodiversity within the Neighbourhood, Development and International Cooperation Instrument (NDICI) in the new EU Budget. To access the full statement please click here.
EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030. On 23rd June 2020, WCS EU published its recommendations regarding the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030. We commend the European Commission for developing such a comprehensive strategy but we are concerned that the EU does not make any concrete financial commitment to implement the external dimension of the strategy. To access the full comments please click here.
European Climate Pact. On 17th June 2020, WCS EU submitted a response to the public consultation on the EU Climate Pact. We believe that the EU Climate Pact should incorporate action to ensure the conservation of the world’s last remaining intact forests. A new index of forest landscape integrity is now available which can be adopted as an important measure of success. To access the full comments please click here.
EU Forest Partnerships. On 25th May 2020, WCS EU, Conservation International and ClientEarth published recommendations for the development of EU Forest Partnership Agreements with priority partner countries and regions. Such partnerships will be key to leveraging action to prevent deforestation and forest degradation whilst achieving crucial co-benefits for people and biodiversity. To access the full recommendations please click here.
EU-Africa Strategy. On 20th May 2020, WCS EU published its recommendations regarding the European Commission communication titled ‘Towards a comprehensive Strategy with Africa’. We believe that the strategy provides the foundation for an ambitious partnership between the EU and Africa and welcome the strong focus on facilitating a green transition. To access the full comments please click here.
EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking. On 18th March 2020, WCS EU submitted comments on the roadmap regarding the evaluation of the EU Action Plan against Wildlife Trafficking, calling on the European Commission to continue the consultation process in a timely way, especially given the problems still being caused by some wildlife markets as demonstrated by the current COVID-19 pandemic. To access the full comments please click here.
Deforestation and Forest Degradation. On 4th March 2020, WCS EU submitted comments on the roadmap regarding ‘Minimising the risk of deforestation and forest degradation associated with products placed on the EU market’, calling for the urgent need to tackle the inter-related crises of deforestation, climate change and biodiversity loss. To access the full comments please click here.
EU Strategy for Biodiversity to 2030. On 20th February 2020, WCS EU submitted comments on a roadmap regarding the EU Strategy for Biodiversity to 2030, and also submitted the WCS EU position outlining our recommendations for the external dimension of a future EU Biodiversity Strategy. To access the full comments please click here.
European Climate Law. On 6th February 2020, WCS EU submitted comments on the roadmap regarding the European Climate Law, which aims to help achieving climate neutrality by 2050, highlighting the important role of intact forests. To access the full comments please click here.
CMS CoP13. In January 2020, WCS EU shared a position statement with the EU and its Member States on some of the documents and proposed decisions for species and issues that we work on in preparation for the 13th meeting of Conference of Parties (CoP13) to the Convention on the Conservation of Migratory Species of Wild Animals (CMS), taking place in Gandhinagar, India, from 15-22 February 2020. All the documents can be found here.
Review of the EU Environmental Crime Directive. On 1st January 2020, WCS EU submitted a response to the public consultation to review the EU Environmental Crime Directive, advocating for EU Member States to treat wildlife crime as a serious crime. Please click here to access our response.