TAKE ACTION! Europe’s bird and insect populations, as well as heavily stressed terrestrial ecosystems, face decimation as the European Commissioner for Agriculture plans to scrap land set-asides for the 2008 season. This unexpected move is a response to rising grain prices – caused by the growing biofuel sector and worsening climate change impacts. Europe’s common farmland birds have declined by nearly 50% since 1980… 45% of Europe’s butterflies are at risk of extinction and a recent study found 80% declines in bee diversity and 70% declines in the diversity of wild flowers dependent on pollination on hundreds of sites in the UK and Netherlands… the future Europe’s ecosystem functionality such as pollination and provisions of food supplies may be at risk as pollinators are driven into extinction. Biofuel expansion for the European market is already causing massive deforestation, biodiversity losses, displacements of local communities and loss of food sovereignty in the global South – now Europe’s wildlife and remaining terrestrial ecosystems are likely to become another victim. Please send the letter below to ask Europe’s politicians not to scrap land set-asides until they are substituted for a more sustainable EU agricultural policy based on organic agriculture and biodiverse mixed farming system. Biofuel targets and incentives must be abolished now, to protect biodiversity and food supplies worldwide.