Welcome to the European Parliamentary Research Service Podcasts.

In this podcast, we'll delve into the risk of biodiversity loss or collapse, one of the 15 risks identified and analyzed by the EPRS in the Future Shocks 2020 report.

Want to know more? Stay with us.

Biodiversity is the variety of life on earth,

from animals to plants, fungi and even microorganisms like bacteria, all working together in ecosystems like an intricate web to maintain balance and support life.

Biodiversity provides us with everything that we need to survive.

Food, clean water and air, medicines, climate regulation.

But we are destroying it and fast.

Around one million species, out of an estimated 8 million,

are threatened with extinction.

That is the highest number in human history.

And according to the WWF's 22 Living Planet Report, the lights are flashing red,

a shocking decline of two-thirds in global populations of mammals, fish, birds, reptiles and amphibians since 1970,

and that is in less than 50 years.

And it could get even worse.

Needless to see that this will have fundamental consequences for our society,

our economy and our health and well-being,

making biodiversity loss one of the

greatest environmental risks of our century, along with climate change.

With initiatives like the Natura 2000 network of protected areas, the EU has achieved some

success in halting biodiversity loss, but the numbers are not much brighter than elsewhere.

So, what are the main pressures at EU level?

...