Information circulated by Ecolo in the press claimed a spectacular reduction in the budget allocated to biodiversity by the new Walloon government. Minister Anne-Catherine Dalcq denies this and explains why it remains a priority.
Anne-Catherine Dalcq, Walloon Minister for Nature, regrets the misleading communication spread by Ecolo and its former minister Céline Tellier. “No, the biodiversity budget will not be cut by 75%. Quite the opposite: 85% of it will be preserved within my budgets,” the Minister explains.
As for the subsidised associations that were worried by the announcements reported in the press, the budgets allocated to them were transferred to Minister Yves Coppieters, since these associations fall under the “Environment” competence. Environment and nature were merged competences during the previous legislature. “If these transferred funds are taken into account, the reduction in biodiversity funding amounts to 15%, not 75%,” Anne-Catherine Dalcq clarifies.
Moreover, a smaller budget does not mean less ambition or fewer projects. It means doing politics differently. That is the choice made by the Minister and her government, whose goal is to manage public funds efficiently. This will involve supporting concrete, measurable projects on the ground, activating other levers with a positive impact on biodiversity without generating additional costs for the Region, carrying out administrative simplification reforms, and developing projects in partnership with the private sector or by supporting private initiatives.
In short, the Walloon government will not do less for biodiversity, but will act differently, more efficiently and more responsibly.