The European Environment Agency said biodiversity in Europe is declining due to unsustainable production and consumption, especially in the food system.
Due to over-exploitation of natural resources, pollution and invasive alien species, more than 80 per cent of protected habitats are in a poor or bad state, it said,
“The degradation of our natural world jeopardises the European way of life,” the agency said in its report: “Europe’s environment 2025”.
“Europe is critically dependent on natural resources for economic security, to which climate change and environmental degradation pose a direct threat.”
But governments are grappling with other priorities including industrial competitiveness, and negotiations on EU climate targets have stoked divisions between richer and poorer countries.