EU Green Week puts the spotlight on nature as the key ally in green recovery

The annual EU Green Week took place in October this year with the theme “A new beginning for people and nature.”  The week-long event opened in Portugal and closed virtually in Brussels, drawing a wide range of speakers and other participants.  They explored ways to rethink their relationship with nature and change the activities that are driving biodiversity loss and the broader ecological crisis. 

During Green Week, the EU Commission launched a new Knowledge Centre for Biodiversity, while the Joint Research Centre presented its report “Mapping and assessment of Ecosystems and their Services: An EU ecosystem assessment.”

“Nature is calling on us to halt biodiversity loss and reverse the damage we have been causing”, said the EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries, Virginijus Sinkevičius. “Now is the moment to create a more sustainable economy, one that doesn’t destroy our life support system, but protects, restores and heals it instead.”

FAO’s Director for the Office of Climate Change, Biodiversity and Environment, Eduardo Mansur, took part in an interactive panel discussion on the interconnections between the circular economy, biodiversity, and nature. Together with other panelists, he explored how a circular economy can help to halt biodiversity loss, among other topics.