Date:22/02/2006 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2006/02/22/stories/2006022206861100.htm

Opinion - News Analysis

Europe's urban areas still growing

Nicholas Watt

A UNEP report warns of the dangers of the urban sprawl.

EUROPE'S URBAN sprawl increased by an area three times the size of Luxembourg in the 1990s, highlighting the continent's failure to protect the environment, a report warned on Monday.

Experts at a biodiversity conference in Croatia this week will be told Europe is performing poorly in eight of nine biodiversity targets set in Kiev in 2003.

"It is clear that achieving the 2010 biodiversity target in Europe requires not only a redoubling of efforts ... but a firm commitment by the parties to act," it says.

The report, by the U.N. Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Council of Europe, says there are 800,000 hectares of built-up areas on the continent. The impact of urban areas on the environment is highlighted by the example of London, whose "ecological footprint" — the standard measure of environmental impact — is two times the size of Britain.

"Humanity continues to use resources at an unsustainable level," the report says, warning that Europe's failure to protect the environment is threatening wildlife species. The numbers of Iberian Lynx and British moths are said to be declining at an alarming rate.

The protection of species, both those classified as under threat and others selected at random, is one of the targets that Europe is failing to meet.

The UNEP highlighted a report by Butterfly Conservation on Monday, which showed that the number of large moths in Britain had decreased by 32 per cent since 1968.

Michael Williams of the UNEP said the moth report was a perfect illustration of ecological damage. "Even at the level of moths, species are in trouble. It is pretty amazing," he said.

He also warned of a threat to Iberian lynx. A recent UNEP report said only about 1,200 lynx were left in south and western Spain after the widespread clearance of marquis vegetation in the 1940s and the rapid economic development of the country over the past 30 years.

On the plus side, the report says that 30 per cent of Europe's land area is still covered by forests, including 17 per cent in 18,000 nature sites. Jeff McNeely, chief scientist at the World Conservation Union, told Reuters: "Europe is probably doing better than most continents in protecting diversity but is not yet doing enough."

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006