Ariel Brunner
@arielbrunner.bsky.social
Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia with @birdlifeeurope.bsky.social
The current political concensus is that "nature conservation has gone too far". Sadly, the reality is the very opposite. Predicted decline in common bird and butterfly species even under conservation policy scenarios in Europe | Nature Ecology & Evolution share.google/KnsJvVsTNy6E...
share.google
www.carbonbrief.org/analysis-84-... For the moment, we are not even trying to stop making things worse. Let alone trying to fix the problems.
Analysis: 84% of nations miss deadline to identify ‘nature-harming’ subsidies by 2025 - Carbon Brief
Most countries failed to meet a 2025 target to identify all of their subsidies that could be “harmful” to biodiversity, according to Carbon Brief analysis.
carbonbrief.org
I'm screaming inside reading this. The implications are beyond comprehension.
Nahel Belgherze@wxnb.bsky.social · 6d agoBordeaux, France, has now recorded more days above 40°C in 2026 alone than during the entire 105-year period from 1920 (when observations began) to 2025. This is deeply shocking.
Have just experienced 38C in Berlin. In Brussels we've had basically a month of no rain and multiple exceptional heat waves. Just unbelievable that our society is still in denial.
Extreme Temperatures Around the World@extremetemps.bsky.social · 6d agoHISTORIC DAY EUROPEAN CLIMATIC HISTORY REWRITTEN Hundreds and Hundreds of records pulverized allover Europe in Spain,France,Switzerland,Austria,Liechtenstein,Germany,Denmark,Poland,Czechia,etc... 30 July 2026 marks the history of European climatic history. Wait for MANY UPDATES
Birds on the € notes!? You can make it happen! 🐦✨ Vote now for your favourite design! www.ecb.europa.eu/euro/banknot... The European Central Bank is redesigning the euro banknotes and is asking the public for feedback. And one of the themes is birds and rivers...😈
Seems 🐦⬛🐦🦉 watchers were much more successful than recreational anglers🎣in advocating for design of future 💶 banknotes. Your work @arielbrunner.bsky.social? No 🐟🦈🦀, but U might want to support biodiv motives 👉 lnkd.in/eF4SrCmT @birdlifeglobal.bsky.social @nabu.de @kostyabiodiv.bsky.social
Meanwhile the farm lobby has successfully lobbied for: More fossil fuel based fertiliser More methane emissions More diesel subsidies Easier destruction of wetlands Harder transition to resources saving &healthier plant based diets. "Food security" is weaponised to destroy our actual food security.
Andy Scollick@andyscollick.bsky.social · 2w ago9 million tonnes of crops destroyed by just one heatwave across Europe, which lasted 13-14 days. #FoodSecurity
Societal death spiral, French edition. The new law that allows destroying wetlands and facilitates water grabbing pushes the more extremist farm lobby to promote water theft. Meanwhile, the Loire runs dry, and the country burns as far north as Bretagne.
Le Monde@lemonde.fr · 2w agoLa Coordination rurale, galvanisée par l’adoption de la loi d’urgence agricole, appelle les agriculteurs à ne pas respecter les restrictions d’eau
Revealed: how Europe’s most powerful farming lobby killed EU’s #pesticides law - High-level documents show how Copa Cogeca worked to weaken legislation to protect climate and wildlife By @zdboren.bsky.social @grilledmedia.bsky.social www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Revealed: how Europe’s most powerful farming lobby killed EU’s pesticide law
Exclusive: High-level documents show how Copa Cogeca worked to weaken legislation to protect climate and wildlife
theguardian.com
Another day, another damning report. @fao.org state of food security argues that EU CAP subsidies have been making healthy food choices harder. Healthy food prices been growing faster than unhealthy food due to skewed subsidies. #agriculture @agri.europarl.europa.eu @ec.europa.eu
During the green deal, the farm lobby killed the attempt to reduce farmers dependence on nitrogen fertiliser. Now the EU just spent 540 milion €, in one go, on extra fertiliser subsidies. This is money taken from taxpayers and handed to Russian and Gulf regimes.
New investigation from @grilledmedia.bsky.social & @theguardian.com Documents from inside Europe's most powerful farming org show how it lobbied "in the same way as the tobacco industry" (their own words!) to block policies for public health & the environment www.theguardian.com/world/2026/j...
Revealed: how Europe’s most powerful farming lobby killed EU’s pesticide law
Exclusive: High-level documents show how Copa Cogeca worked to weaken legislation to protect climate and wildlife
theguardian.com
Solar power provided a quarter of the European Union’s electricity for the first time in June 2026 Solar generated a record 52TWh of electricity during the month, accounting for 25% of EU power generation. www.energylivenews.com/2026/07/14/s...
Solar becomes EU’s largest power source for first time in June - Energy Live News
Record solar generation supplied 25% of EU electricity in June, overtaking nuclear, gas and wind
energylivenews.com
The EU depends on imported #fertiliser, as shown again by the war in Iran. But manure—suggested by some as solution—cannot replace mineral fertiliser because the #livestock sector itself is a net consumer of it. Scaling up #manure “production” would increase fertiliser use: doi.org/10.1111/1746... +
EC assessment of the #Nitrates directive finds what is obvious- the law is good and needed, the problem is Member States not enforcing it. Well done @jessikaroswall.ec.europa.eu
According to a mortality monitoring service supported by the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control and the World Health Organization, EU countries reported 10,650 excess deaths between June 22 and June 28. And this is likely an underestimate. That's the peak of the last heat wave
Nice one- Aalborg water utility in DK suing the government for failure to enforce the #nitrates directive on farmers. It correctly argues that Aalborg citizens should not foot the bill for new expensive treatment plant to clean water that legally should not have been contaminated in the first place.
Thank you President @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu for a very constructive meeting with ENGOs today. We need the EU to drive a just transition away from fossil fuels, invest in restoring our ecosystem, and enforce, rather than deregulate its good laws that defend the health of both citizens and nature.
Solidarity with the Director of our Ukrainian Partner USPB whose house and car have been damaged by recent Russian bombing. Our colleagues are fortunately unharmed, and keep working for nature even under the current extreme conditions.
The Italian government is trying to take hunting legislation back to the 1980's. In brutal violation of EU law. Against all scientific advice. Threat is to birds from the Arctic to Southern Africa. We need support. Here is our Italian Partner's petition: share.google/g92NXJnrh4pC...
@GIORGIA MELONI FERMA CACCIA SELVAGGIA!
Un disegno di legge prevede la liberalizzazione dell'attività venatoria, con un impatto distruttivo sugli uccelli migratori e la natura. Aiutaci a convincere la Presidente del Consiglio Giorgia Meloni...
share.google
Another important victory in the fight to save Poland's Vistula river from the misguided #E40 waterway project. savepolesia.org/crucial-vict... @otop-birdlife.bsky.social @birdlifeeurope.bsky.social
A crucial victory for the Vistula: сourt dismisses appeal for Siarzewo dam - Save Polesia
On 19 June the Vistula River caught a break. The Provincial Administrative Court in Warsaw dismissed the appeal filed by the state-owned investor, Polish Waters (Wody Polskie)…
savepolesia.org
www.nytimes.com/video/world/... Very good NYT explanation of the illegal construction in Albania's Vjosa-Narta ecosystem and of the damage done. #HandsOffVjosaNarta
Video: Work at Kushner-Linked Resort in Albania Could Affect Sensitive Landscape
nytimes.com
Some boreal forest species fail to recover even 100 years after clearcutting share.google/Tx0CHYbkxTHf... The forestry lobby keeps defending clear cuts and old growth logging, and opposing strict protection. On the premice that forest is nothing more than a renewable stand of wood.
Some boreal forest species fail to recover even 100 years after clearcutting
Boreal forests are being clear-cut faster than some of their wildlife and plant species can recover, with a few failing to return even 100 years after harvesting, according to University of Alberta-le...
share.google
In last week heat wave, Belgium had peak excess mortality higher then at hight of COVID pandemic. Meanwhile both Belgian and EU politicians keep treating climate change has some sort of left wing pet issue, or as a minority hobby. Or actively working to make it worse.
"The snow and ice accumulated last winter by Switzerland's glaciers is expected to have all melted away by Monday, marking the alarming second-earliest arrival on record of the tipping point known as Glacier Loss Day."
AFP News Agency@en.afp.com · last mo.Swiss glaciers are set to lose an enormous amount of ice due to the heatwave battering Europe, the head of Glacier Monitoring in Switzerland (GLAMOS) said. ➡️ u.afp.com/SKZp
Great news for nature!🎉 Late yesterday afternoon, Member States in the REACH committee voted in support of the Commission’s proposal to restrict lead in gunshot.
Breaking- EU governments vote to extend lead ban outside wetlands. Very disappointing proposal from the EC who caved in and took out bullets used for hunting and target practice. Still, another significant step foward to #BanLead
