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THE EUROPEAN ENVIRONMENT
STATE AND OUTLOOK 2010
Thomas Henrichs
European Environment Agency
About the European Environment Agency
The European Environment Agency:
- is established by EEC regulation
- is an independent information provider
- is an analyst and assessor
- is building bridges between science and policy
- is dependent upon strong networks to carry out its work
… to support policy processes and inform the public
What is SOER 2010?
Thematic assessments
Country assessments
Understanding climate change
Country profiles
Mitigating climate change
National and regional stories
Adapting to climate change
Biodiversity
Common environmental themes
Land use
Climate change mitigation
Soil
Land use
Marine and coastal environment
Consumption and environment
Assessment of global
megatrends
Nature protection & biodiversity
Waste
Material resources and waste
Social megatrends
Freshwater
Water resources: quantity & flows
Technological megatrends
Air pollution
Freshwater quality
Economic megatrends
Air pollution
Environmental megatrends
Urban environment
Political megatrends
Each EEA member country (32)
and EEA cooperating country (6)
assessed all six environmental
themes above.
SOER 2010:
geographical coverage
Country assessments
Country profiles
National and regional stories
Common environmental themes
Climate change mitigation
Land use
Nature protection & biodiversity
Waste
Freshwater
Air pollution
Each EEA member country (32)
and EEA cooperating country (6)
assessed all six environmental
themes above.
* Kosovo under UNSCR 1244/99
SOER 2010 stresses a familiar message:
there has been progress, but not enough
‘It appears that […] progress in reducing pressures on the
state of the environment has remained largely insufficient
– in spite of positive trends in some areas’ – SOER 1999
‘Over the past 30 years, much has been done to
improve Europe's environment. But major
challenges remain for the future.’ – SOER 2005
‘Environmental policy has delivered substantial improvements […]
however, major environmental challenges remain which will have
significant consequences […] if left unaddressed. ’ – SOER 2010
SOER 2010:
thematic coverage
Thematic assessments
Understanding climate change
Mitigating climate change
Adapting to climate change
Biodiversity
Land use
The 13 thematic assessments can
be clustered into four groups, in
accordance with the EU’s 6th EAP
(Environment Action Programme).
Soil
Marine and coastal environment
Consumption and environment
Material resources and waste
Water resources: quantity & flows
Freshwater quality
Climate change
Nature & biodiversity
Natural resources & wastes
Air pollution
Urban environment
Environment, health & quality of life
Climate change
Climate change
Climate change
• In 2009, EU-27 greenhouse gas emissions were 17.3 %
below the 1990 level
• World greenhouse gas emission cuts are not enough to
stop average global temperatures rising by more than 2°C
• The decade 2000–2009 was the warmest on record; the
temperature in Europe has risen more than the global average
• Global temperatures are expected to increase this century by
at least 0.6°C due to past emissions
Nature and biodiversity
Nature and biodiversity
Nature and biodiversity
• The Natura 2000 network now covers 18 % of EU territory;
knowledge about the status of biodiversity has greatly improved
• The rate of biodiversity loss is decreasing in Europe, but the EU
will fail to meet its target of halting the loss by 2010
• 52 % of target species under the Habitats Directive have an
unfavourable status and the status of 31 % is unknown
• More than 10 000 non-native species are present in Europe
and 10–15 % have negative economic or ecological effects
Natural resources and waste
Natural resources and waste
Natural resources and waste
• There has been partial decoupling of both resource use and
waste generation from economic growth in recent years
• Recycling of municipal waste in the EU-27 avoided some
47 million tonnes of CO2-equivalent emissions in 2008
• EU-12 resource use increased by 34 % in the period
2000–2007
• More than 20 % of resources used in Europe are imported,
notably fuels and mining products
Environment, health and quality of life
Environment, health and quality of life
Environment, health and quality of life
• Europe has significantly cut emissions of key air pollutants,
greatly reducing exposure to sulphur dioxide and lead
• In the EEA-32, the area of sensitive ecosystems exposed to
excess acidification from air pollution fell by 80 % in 1990–2010
• Fine particle pollution (PM2.5) is estimated to cause some
5 million lost years of life annually in the EEA-32 countries
• Agriculture contributes 50–80 % of the nitrogen load in
Europe’s freshwater, leading to poorer water quality
Links between environmental challenges
Links between environmental challenges
Links between environmental challenges
These links highlight that how and
where we use natural capital and
ecosystem services matters.
Global megatrends bring additional risks and uncertainties -many outside Europe’s control
Future environmental priorities:
some reflections
Future environmental priorities:
some reflections
• Better implementation and further strengthening of current
environmental priorities
• Coherent integration of environmental consideration across the
many sectoral policy domains
• Dedicated management of natural capital and ecosystem
services (and increasing resource efficiency and resilience)
• Transformation to a green economy that addresses the longterm viability of natural capital within Europe and beyond
Thank you