THE natural world across Europe is suffering a crisis as serious as the threat of climate change. The European Environment Agency (EEA) has warned that most species and habitats are in poor condition and the risk of extinction continues to rise.

New figures for the UK also show that even the most important and rare plants and animals are suffering eight out of 10 habitats and half of species given the highest level of European protection are in an “unfavourable” condition.

Species at risk in the UK range from insects such as the honeybee and swallowtail butterfly, to mammals and birds at the top of the food chain such as the dormouse, otter and golden eagle, said the Centre for Ecology & Hydrology (CEH).

The losses threaten to undermine vital ecosystem services such as clean water and fertile soils, said Jacqueline McGlade, the EEA`s executive director. “Much of our economy in Europe relies on the fact we have natural resources underpinning everything. Some of the losses are irreversible.”

McGlade is worried that the European commission has failed to meet a pledge to halt biodiversity loss by 2010 and recently warned “the loss of biodiversity is a global threat that is every bit as serious as climate change. The reasons that we are losing biodiversity are well known destruction of habitats, pollution, over-exploitation, invasive species and, most recently, climate change. The compound effect of these forces is terrifying.”

Figures for the habitats and species awarded special protection under the EU habitats directive reveal that across 40 countries of Europe and the former Soviet Union, 50 to 85 per cent of habitats and 40 to 70 per cent of species were in an “unfavourable” condition. Many more could not be assessed because of a lack of information.

Across Europe, the biggest declines from 1990 to 2000 had been for bogs and fenland, heathland and coastal habitats. Woodland, forests and lakes had grown.

Populations of some European common birds stopped falling in the 1990s, but all groups of birds had fallen in numbers since 1980, and other species groups such as butterflies, amphibians and pollinating insects had declined dramatically, said the report.

Globally, last year`s “red list” of endangered species from the IUCN conservation organisation warned the world`s mammals faced an extinction crisis, with almost one in four of 5,487 known species at risk of disappearing.

— The Guardian, London