Nature Restoration Law adopted in trilogue, but still a long way to go

The Nature Restoration Law, which was approved during talks between the European Parliament and the Council, comes a little late in view of the ecological calamity raging on our doorstep, but at least it’s there, writes Jutta Paulus.

Jutta Paulus is a German Member of the European Parliament for Greens/EFA group.

A fifth of Europe’s flora and fauna is threatened with extinction, a new study shows. One fifth! The situation for nature on our doorstep is worse than feared. Almost twice as many European species are endangered as expected. The reasons for this are of course complex, but one of the most important is the intensive use of land and seas, which is destroying ecosystems and leads to the loss of habitats.

Our meadows and fields are becoming quiet and intact ecosystems are slowly but inevitably disintegrating because we are dissecting them with highways or putting them under pressure from intensive agriculture. This is precisely the reason why the European Commission presented the Nature Restoration Law last year. After three years of the Green Deal, it thus took the necessary step to create a legal basis, as with the European Climate Law, to stop the extinction of species and give ecosystems room to breathe again.

One milestone reached, more ahead

The text, which was agreed in yesterday’s negotiations between the European Parliament and the Council, comes rather late in view of the ecological calamity on our European doorstep, but at least it’s there.

And it is something to be proud of. After the initial blockade by the conservative EPP group in the European Parliament was overcome, we have now created a strong legal basis after weeks of negotiations between Parliament and the Council and are thus fulfilling our international obligations.

At the UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15) in Montreal last year, the European Union advocated an ambitious global agreement to save biodiversity. In other words, an agreement under which 30% of land and sea areas are to be protected and 30% of destroyed ecosystems are to be restored by 2030. For the EU, this means that we need more protected areas, the existing ones must be better shielded from environmentally damaging influences, improved with management measures and we need a legal basis for restoration.

Three aspects of the new law are fundamental to this:

1. The peatlands are back in the law. After the European Parliament had unceremoniously deleted the whole article, the world’s best climate crisis fighters are finally back in. Member states must take measures to revitalise peatlands. This is not only important for biodiversity, but also to achieve our climate targets, as 10% of the necessary emission reductions until 2030 are to be achieved in the land sector.
2. Nature needs space – and it gets it. By 2030, renaturation measures must be introduced on 20 % of the land area of the EU. This is the only way nature can recover and ecosystem services can be secured.
3. Borders do not matter for nature. This is precisely why the restoration measures are not limited to Natura 2000 areas, but can also take place outside of protected areas.

No question: it is a compromise and it remains to be seen whether the challenges will be mastered. But it is a start.

The road to get there was bumpy, but the road ahead will be too. Because the new compromise will now go back to the legislative bodies, the environmental council of ministers, and the environmental committee of the parliament, and in the latter, it will face a tough vote.

If it fails there, there is a risk of an enormous delay or even the complete end of the months-long negotiations. Europe’s species extinction would therefore continue and climate action would be maimed. The next decisive milestone will therefore be the final committee vote at the end of November.

Without nature, everything is nothing

It must be clear to us: without nature, everything is nothing. It sounds trivial, but it is based on hard economic numbers.

With the ecosystem service pollination alone, insects provide 12% of the average annual profit of the EU agricultural sector. They are warrantors of our food security. On top of this, 30-50% of carbon-rich ecosystems need to be restored in order to limit global warming to below 2 degrees Celsius, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).

CO2 storage by healthy ecosystems would contribute to this and is already included in the EU climate target for 2030: 10% of the necessary emission reductions are to be achieved in the land sector.

That is precisely why this law is needed. It is the new foundation for nature’s recovery. It can stop the extinction of species and finally secure new space, it can prioritise nature-based solutions such as revitalised peatlands, and it can create stable revenues for farmers who produce in a nature-friendly way.