2014-09-30 10:00 to 2014-09-30 17:00
European Parliament, Brussels
Belgium
The European Parliament Intergroup on ‘Climate Change, Biodiversity and Sustainable Development’, in partnership with IUCN – International Union for Conservation of Nature and the European Commission will held on the 30th of September a conference on Nature-Based Solutions.
Europe faces enormous challenges in the years to come. We need to increase our efforts to mitigate climate change and enhance our resilience to natural disasters, continue to ensure safe and nutritious food to more than 500 million people, safeguard our water and air quality, protect our rich biodiversity, and deal with increasing urbanization and human health issues. On an international level, we need to reinforce our fight against poverty and help drive sustainable development and prosperity around the world.
Nature can play a strong role in tackling these challenges. Often, nature’s solutions are at our fingertips, but we ignore them. Using nature to tackle some of the most pressing challenges of our time can be cost-effective, help safeguard the environment and halt biodiversity loss, and provide numerous economic and social benefits by creating jobs and stimulating innovation. All these are good reasons for recognizing and implementing the solutions nature can provide.
The objective of this conference is to raise awareness on the numerous environmental, economic and social benefits that can be realised by implementing nature-based solutions and by restoring the natural functions of ecosystems. Speakers will illustrate and discuss ways in which nature can provide solutions to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges, and inspire participants to look beyond the traditional answers to today’s and tomorrow’s challenges, by turning to nature to provide solutions that will enhance both Europe’s socio-economic and environmental development.
