European countries are "highly unlikely" to meet their goal of halting the loss of wildlife in the EU by 2010, the European Commission warned.

An interim report on action to halt biodiversity loss by 2010 said "significant additional commitment" by the EU and member states would be needed over the next two years to even come close to meeting the goal.

Conservation groups des-cribed the failure to take sufficient action to protect Europe's wildlife as shameful. According to the RSPB and Birdlife International, wildlife in the UK and across the EU continues to be threatened by agriculture, development, persecution and the deterioration of natural habitats.

The mid-term report from the European Commission on the 2010 Biodiversity Action Plan showed 50 per cent of protected species and up to 80 per cent of habitats did not have a good conservation status. The review said the level of problems was not surprising as declines had been going on for decades and could not be reversed in a few years.

But it also warned of new challenges from the expansion of crops for biofuels and the threat of invasive species, and also called for significant reductions in fishing pressure put on the EU's seas.

And it said: "At the global level, biodiversity loss is disastrous, with ecosystems frequently being degraded to the point where natural processes are disrupted, resulting in severe economic and social impacts."

The RSPB's conservation director Dr Mark Avery said: "Europe is still rich in wildlife, but today's report tells us that our remaining treasures are still under great threat. Despite commitments and promises from the EU and member states, the list of species in need of urgent help is growing.

"Failure to act now will see wildlife being squeezed from more places and, inevitably, some species will be doomed to extinction. For example, in the UK, birds reliant on farmland are at their lowest levels and there have been major declines of agricultural birds across Europe too."

EU leaders agreed in 2001 to commit to halting biodiversity loss by 2010, and a global deal making the same commitment was agreed in 2002. But the RSPB said that within Europe the number of bird species which were of "global conservation concern" had risen from 37 in 2000 to 47 in 2008, and now includes formerly widespread species in the EU and UK such as the red kite, curlew and Dartford warbler.

And populations of common farmland birds including the skylark, yellowhammer and corn bunting have declined across Europe by around half between 1980 and 2006.