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Policy responses to the Ukraine crisis threaten European biodiversity

Nature Ecology & Evolution volume 6, pages 1048–1049 (2022)Cite this article

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To the Editor — The Russian invasion of Ukraine is first and foremost a human tragedy. This crisis has also abruptly changed the geopolitical landscape and views on globalization as a pathway to increased wealth and security. War has always compromised incentives for collaboration1, and in the case of Ukraine it could jeopardize hard-won gains in efforts to combat global climate change and biodiversity decline. We argue that rash changes to land-use policy currently being made in Europe in response to the invasion are ill-advised, and we call for the establishment of an independent European Biodiversity Council to help to safeguard biodiversity in the region.

The invasion of Ukraine and resulting international sanctions on Russia and Belarus have sparked a renewed European focus on energy and food security. European political leaders are aiming to make Europe independent of Russian energy (oil and gas) and food resources (mainly grain and oil seeds) within a decade, and in some countries much faster than this. This has massive implications both in Europe and worldwide.

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Fig. 1: A crop field in Denmark (left) following conversion from a fallow field (right).

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Acknowledgements

J.G. was funded by The Danish Independent Research council (grant 0165-00018B). N.S. and J.W.B were funded by EU Horizon 2020 SUPERB (grant agreement 101036849). N.D.B. was funded by UK Research and Innovation’s Global Challenges Research Fund (UKRI GCRF) through the Trade, Development and the Environment Hub project (project number ES/S008160/1).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Food and Resource Economics, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Niels Strange

  2. Center for Macroecology, Evolution and Climate, Globe Institute, University of Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark

    Jonas Geldmann & Neil D. Burgess

  3. UN Environment Programme World Conservation Monitoring Center (UNEP-WCMC), Cambridge, UK

    Neil D. Burgess

  4. Durrell Institute of Conservation and Ecology, University of Kent, Canterbury, UK

    Joseph William Bull

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  1. Niels Strange
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Correspondence to Niels Strange.

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Strange, N., Geldmann, J., Burgess, N.D. et al. Policy responses to the Ukraine crisis threaten European biodiversity. Nat Ecol Evol 6, 1048–1049 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41559-022-01786-z

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