Important decision

[David M]

A couple of days ago, an important law was passed within the EU to restore 20% of the bloc's land & sea habitats by the end of the decade:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/artic ... MTZieXRlcw

It met with fierce resistance, mainly from agricultural lobbyists, but managed to scrape through largely due to the Austrian climate minister risking criminal charges by defying that country's opposition to the proposal.

How it will work in practice remains to be seen, but it is a rare positive for the environment and should help to slow the decline of the myriad species that we have been harming relentlessly these last few decades.

Some nations voted against the bill: Finland, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland and Sweden (Belgium abstained), stating administrative burdens and costs as the main factors. This is typical of the short-sighted attitudes of modern times. The cost of mass extinction of large numbers of fauna down the line would be far greater.

[selbypaul]

It is a fascinating piece of legislation. The (positive) implications are huge, if implemented. But I worry that compliance will not be enforced.

[David M]

Me too, Paul. It's a bit like the legislation that was supposed to outlaw new fossil fuel cars by 2030. That was put back to 2035 not so long ago, and in all honesty, I expect that at some point the can will be kicked even further down the road to 2040 or even later.

I'm just glad I won't see the second half of the 21st century. It's probably going to be the worst period in human history.