La European Commission does not give up on the ambitious sustainable development goals set by the Green Deal, despite the current and difficult time of global economic crisis that we are still experiencing. Some Member States had in fact asked for the environmental objectives set on the agenda to be overshadowed in order to allocate more resources to support the European economy brought to its knees by the effects of the pandemic. This request was not accepted and the centrality of the Green Deal in the European Community program was reiterated.
In fact, at this historical moment, our continent needs a change for a new vision of development, aimed at a green transition and aimed at giving more to the environment than what it takes. Indeed, we can no longer try to restore the previous model of economic and industrial development as, thanks to this pandemic, it has proved to be bankrupt and no longer compatible. Man depends for everything on nature starting with food, air and water, but it also depends on it for one's physical and mental well-being. We all became aware of this last aspect in the periods spent in lockdown, when we lacked contact with the open air, with greenery and with all the values of open spaces.
All this, however, is also a value in economic terms as the Green Deal demonstrates with data that investing in the environment today means incurring lower costs for a virtuous economy of tomorrow and aimed at sustainability. For this reason, it was also decided to allocate significant portions of investments for these objectives, which amount to at least 30% of the EU budget and the Next Generation fund. A significant portion of these loans (up to 10%) is destined for biodiversity in various forms. By 2030, for example, we want to restore at least 350 million hectares of degraded ecosystems in Europe in order to enhance its potential environmental functions. Important measures will also be aimed at agriculture as it is responsible for the loss of biodiversity, especially in forms of intensive cultivation which are not very consistent with environmental compatibility.
Through various interventions we want to significantly limit the use of pesticides (which are among other things the main responsible for the decline of pollinating insects, on which about 70% of our foodstuffs depend), favor the increase oforganic farming and allocate a portion of the agricultural area to the environment itself. Precisely for these reasons, the European Commission is currently defending its post-2020 CAP proposal so that, in the current negotiation phase, remain firmly linked to the objectives of the Green Deal. Particular emphasis is also given to measures for the protection and conservation of nature through the Natura 2000 network which represents the largest system of protected areas in the world.
In addition to protecting and managing Natura 2000 priority species and habitats in fact it is also an economy for all the employees who work there (directly and indirectly) and above all for the tourism sector where at least one employee out of 4 gravitates to these areas. From all this emerges a picture of high interest for hunting that can only see positively and fully support the ambitions of the Green Deal. The biodiversity objectives in particular are fully compatible with any anthropogenic activity (including hunting) which uses renewable environmental resources rationally, but which at the same time preserve and improve them over time (Faunistic and Agro-environmental Studies and Research Office Federcaccia).