Nature Restoration Law (EU policy)

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TitleNature Restoration Law
Current legislation

The Nature Restoration Law is a regulation of the European Union to protect the European Union environments and restore its nature to a good ecological state through renaturation.

The law is a core element of the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy and makes the targets set therein for the "restoration of nature" binding.[1]

The Nature Conservation Act was proposed by the European Commission on June 22, 2022. After the Council of the European Union agreed on a revised proposal in June 2023, the trilogue negotiations between the Commission, Council and European Parliament began. An agreement on a compromise was reached on November 9, 2023.[2] The EU Parliament voted in favor of the final draft law on February 27, 2024.

The regulation is a response to Europe's declining natural environments, with more than 80% of habitats in poor condition.[1] Its goals include protecting the functioning of ecosystem services, climate change mitigation, and resilience and autonomy by preventing natural disasters and reducing risks to food security,[1] and restoring damaged ecosystems.[3]

Member states will have to develop their national restoration plans by 2026.[3] EU countries will have to restore at least 30% of habitats in poor condition by 2030, 60% by 2040, and 90% by 2050.[4][5][6]

History

Before the vote in the Council of EU Environment Ministers, which was initially scheduled for March 25, 2024, the representatives of eight EU member states withdrew their consent; Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands and Hungary were now against it, while Austria, Belgium, Finland and Poland announced their abstention. The vote was then taken off the agenda.[7][8] After Austria controversially announced its approval, the vote took place in the Council on June 17, 2024 and the law was adopted.[9][10][11][6]

The final text reduced many of the requirements for the farming sector.[6]

Voting result in the European Parliament on 27 February 2024

A map of main rivers in Europe

The European Parliament adopted the agreement reached with the Member States by 329 votes to 275, with 24 abstentions.[12] The individual political groups in the European Parliament voted like so:[13]

Party Pro (votes) Con (votes) Abstentions
ECR 3 60 1
EPP 25 115 10
Greens/EFA 69 — 2
ID — 50 —
Die Left 28 3 —
Renew Europe 60 30 6
S&D 117 4 3
Non-attached 27 13 2

Reception

An assessment of European freshwater biodiversity recovery[14]

The regulation was endorsed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature,[15] scientists, who wrote an open letter in support that addressed critics' arguments,[16][17][18][19] and the European Academies' Science Advisory Council[20] among others.

Two organizations[more detail needed] that represent the farming and fisheries sectors have criticized the policy as an unimplementable legislation in 2023 that endangers farmers' and fishers' livelihoods.[17] In another open letter by academics, biodiversity researchers requested policies like the Nature Restoration Law are built alongside farmers to empower them to make agriculture more environmentally friendly.[21][22]

See also

  1. ^ a b c "The EU #NatureRestoration Law". environment.ec.europa.eu. 12 July 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  2. ^ "Press corner". European Commission - European Commission. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  3. ^ a b "State of the Union: EU top jobs and Nature Restoration law". euronews. 21 June 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  4. ^ "Nature restoration: Parliament adopts law to restore 20% of EU's land and sea | News | European Parliament". www.europarl.europa.eu. 27 February 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  5. ^ "Nature restoration". Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  6. ^ a b c Manzanaro, Sofia Sanchez (17 June 2024). "EU countries rubberstamp Nature Restoration Law after months of deadlock". www.euractiv.com. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  7. ^ O'Carroll, Lisa (25 March 2024). "EU nature restoration laws face collapse as member states withdraw support". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  8. ^ "Future of Nature Restoration Law uncertain amid further delay". euronews. 22 March 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  9. ^ "Österreich gab bei Ja zu Renaturierungsgesetz den Ausschlag, Nehammer kündigt Nichtigkeitsklage an". DER STANDARD (in Austrian German). Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  10. ^ "EU ministers approve contested Nature Restoration Law – DW – 06/17/2024". dw.com. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  11. ^ Petrequin, Samuel (17 June 2024). "EU approves landmark nature restoration plan despite months of protests by farmers". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  12. ^ "Parlament: Ja zur Renaturierung von 20 % der Land- und Meeresflächen der EU | Aktuelles | Europäisches Parlament". www.europarl.europa.eu (in German). 27 February 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  13. ^ "Protokoll; Ergebnis der namentlichen Abstimmungen - Anlage" (PDF). Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  14. ^ Haase, Peter; Bowler, Diana E.; Baker, Nathan J.; et al. (August 2023). "The recovery of European freshwater biodiversity has come to a halt". Nature. 620 (7974): 582–588. doi:10.1038/s41586-023-06400-1. ISSN 1476-4687.
  15. ^ "The EU adopts its new Nature Restoration Law - News | IUCN". www.iucn.org. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  16. ^ "Scientists support the EU's Green Deal and reject the unjustified argumentation against the Sustainable Use Regulation and the Nature Restoration Law". The call was led by 23 scientists and signed by 6000 scientists across EU Member States and 30 additional countries.
  17. ^ a b "Scientists urge European Parliament to vote for nature restoration law". Science.org. 10 July 2023. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  18. ^ "SCIENTISTS IN SUPPORT FOR AN AMBITIOUS EU NATURE RESTORATION LAW – Institute of Fisheries Management". ifm.org.uk. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  19. ^ Hering, Daniel; Schürings, Christian; Wenskus, Franziska; Blackstock, Kirsty; Borja, Angel; Birk, Sebastian; Bullock, Craig; Carvalho, Laurence; Dagher-Kharrat, Magda Bou; Lakner, Sebastian; Lovrić, Nataša; McGuinness, Shane; Nabuurs, Gert-Jan; Sánchez-Arcilla, Agustín; Settele, Josef; Pe’er, Guy (15 December 2023). "Securing success for the Nature Restoration Law". Science. 382 (6676): 1248–1250. doi:10.1126/science.adk1658. ISSN 0036-8075.
  20. ^ "EU Nature Restoration Law 2024". Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Leopoldina. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  21. ^ Greenfield, Patrick (26 April 2024). "New EU nature law will fail without farmers, scientists warn". The Guardian. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
  22. ^ "We need nature to save our agriculture". Crowther Lab. 18 April 2024. Retrieved 19 July 2024.
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