Fifth National Report of Belgium to the Convention on Biological Diversity (Th. Hubin, RBINS) 2014 2 Contents Executive Summary ..................................................................................................................................................... 4 Preamble ....................................................................................................................................................................... 6 Chapter I - Overview of Biodiversity Status, Trends and Threats .......................................................................... 7 1. Importance of biodiversity in Belgium .................................................................................................................. 7 2. Status of biodiversity ........................................................................................................................................... 10 3. Trends in biodiversity .......................................................................................................................................... 16 4. Main threats to biodiversity ................................................................................................................................. 29 Chapter II - Status of national biodiversity strategies and action plans, their implementation, and the mainstreaming of biodiversity .................................................................................................................................. 44 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................................... 44 2. Biodiversity 2020, Update of Belgium's National Strategy ................................................................................. 45 3. Regional and Federal action plans ....................................................................................................................... 52 4. Sectoral and cross-sectoral integration or mainstreaming of biodiversity considerations ................................... 61 Chapter III - Progress towards the 2020 Aichi Targets and contributions to the relevant 2015 Targets of the Millennium Development Goals ................................................................................................................................ 83 1. Progress towards the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets ....................................................................................... 83 2. Contributions to the 2015 Targets of the Millennium Development Goals ....................................................... 126 Appendix I - Concordance of the Aichi Targets with Biodiversity 2020, Update of Belgium's National Strategy ................................................................................................................................................................................... 128 Appendix II - Information concerning reporting Party and preparation of national report ............................ 134 1. Reporting Party ................................................................................................................................................. 134 2. Overview of Belgian Regional and Thematic Focal Points ............................................................................... 135 3. Procedure for the preparation of the report ....................................................................................................... 136 4. Contributing experts .......................................................................................................................................... 137 Appendix III - Further sources of information ..................................................................................................... 139 1. National / Federal level ..................................................................................................................................... 139 2. Flemish Region ................................................................................................................................................. 140 3. Walloon Region................................................................................................................................................. 140 4. Brussels-Capital Region .................................................................................................................................... 141 3 Executive Summary The present report is the fifth National Report on the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity in and by Belgium. The previous Belgian National Reports were published in 1998, 2001, 2005 and 2009. The report is organised as follows: Chapter I starts with some information and research results on the importance of biodiversity and ecosystem services in Belgium. It further provides an overview of the status and trends of biodiversity in our country, at the species and habitat levels, and focuses on threats such as fragmentation, pollution, alien species and climate change. Information is provided for the Flemish, Brussels-Capital and Walloon Regions as well as for the Belgian part of the North Sea. The geography and geology of Belgium, together with long-standing human impact in land use, resulted in an amazing diversity of habitat types for a rather small territory. Not less than 58 of them are listed in the EU Habitats Directive. Around 36,300 species of micro-organisms, plants, fungi and animals have been recorded in Belgium and expert extrapolations suggest that the actual number should range between 52,000 and 55,000 species. In Flanders, at least 7% of formerly recorded species are extinct, 19% are endangered and 28% are vulnerable to near threatened. In Wallonia, 9% of the animal and plant species have already disappeared and 31% of the animal and plant species are threatened to disappear. In the Brussels-Capital Region, 80 higher plant species, 12 bird species and half of the amphibian species have disappeared. The Belgian marine area suffers from severe declines in fish and crustaceans, notably in commercial species. The first part of chapter II provides an overview of the country’s strategic documents and action plans. ‘Biodiversity 2020, Update of Belgium’s National Strategy’ is briefly described and its status of implementation is discussed. This strategy complements the strategic documents developed at the regional level. In the Flemish Region, the Policy Plan for Environment and Nature 2011-2015 includes a chapter on biodiversity and nature, and gives a framework for sectoral integration to improve environmental quality and to give specific attention to ecosystem services. In the Walloon Region, the administration for agriculture, natural resources and the environment has adopted a strategic plan with targets and indicators for the period 2008-2013. It will be renewed in 2014. The Wallonia Nature Network, a progressive catalogue of concrete and realistic actions, is also being created. In application of a new global nature legislation (ordonnance du 1er mars 2012 relative à la conservation de la nature ), the Brussels-Capital Region has adopted in September 2013 a project of regional nature plan. This project establishes the Brussels vision for nature at the horizon 2050 and sets up 7 main objectives for 2020 that are underpinned by a set of 26 measures. A public consultation on this project was held at the beginning of 2014. At the federal level, the government has identified priority policies for biodiversity in its Federal Plan for Sustainable Development (2009-2012 (FPSD2)). Since 2013, a pre-project of the third plan (FPSD3) is in preparation which will also include specific measures and actions related to biodiversity and ecosystem services. The federal government has also established a master plan for the management of the Belgian part of the North Sea. 4 The second part of the chapter describes the sectoral and cross-sectoral integration of biodiversity enhanced and supported at the regional and federal level. It focuses on the initiatives in various themes and sectors such as water management, land use planning, construction, agriculture and forestry, and in relation to stakeholders such as business, local authorities, etc. The final part focuses more in detail on the federal plan for the sectoral integration of biodiversity in four key sectors, which was adopted by the federal government in 2009. It was elaborated by four multi- stakeholder committees representing the major actors in the field of transport, economy, development cooperation and science. Chapter III reviews the progress made by Belgium towards the 2020 Aichi Biodiversity Targets. It provides a non exhaustive overview of programs and actions in relation to key issues such as biodiversity conservation, sustainable use, threats to biodiversity, ecosystem services, traditional knowledge, benefit sharing and financial resources. It is concluded by a note in relation to the Millennium Development Goals and its 2015 Targets. After the report, appendices are presented: - concordance table linking the Aichi targets with the objectives of the updated National Strategy; - overview of the Belgian Regional and Thematic Focal Points; - information on the elaboration process of the report; - list of contributing experts; - further sources of information. 5 Preamble Belgium is a federal state, composed of communities and regions. The power to make decisions