On June 17, 2024, the EU Environment Council adopted the most important law on the restoration of natural resources across the Union in 30 years. The Nature Restoration Law is intended to ensure the protection and restoration of terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems in Europe. According to the adopted provisions, by 2030. Corrective actions will cover 20 percent. European Union area, and by 2050. All systems in need of reconstruction.
Nature Restoration Law and its main principles
The Nature Restoration Law sets specific, legally binding goals and responsibilities for nature restoration in each of the listed ecosystems – from terrestrial to marine, freshwater and urban. The regulation is aimed at mitigating climate change and the effects of natural disasters. It will help the EU meet its international environmental obligations and rebuild already damaged areas.
Nature Restoration Law – difficult negotiations
The draft Nature Restoration Regulation – Nature Restoration Law – was presented by the European Commission on June 22, 2022, but negotiations were quite difficult and took two years. The draft was initially approved in July 2023 after a tumultuous vote in the European Parliament. After the Council, Parliament and the Commission reached a tripartite agreement, the Nature Restoration Law was approved by the European Parliament in February this year. We wrote about the difficult negotiations in a previous article Water Affairs: Nature Restoration Law – difficult negotiations. The last requirement for the regulation to enter into force was the formal approval of the member states in the EU Council. This was supposed to happen in March 2024, but at the last minute Hungary withdrew its support, thus the draft regulation was not adopted.
As negotiations continued, environment ministers from 11 European Union countries sent an open letter to countries that have not yet expressed support for the adoption of the Nature Restoration Law regulation, as we reported in a previous Water Matters article: Nature Restoration Law: a decisive moment for nature conservation in Europe.
For the Nature Restoration Law to go into effect, the approval of at least 15 countries with 65 percent of the country’s population was needed. EU citizens. Negotiations over the adoption of the draft regulation continued until the final moments of the vote. On June 17, 2024. Twenty countries with 66.07 percent voted yes. EU citizens, thus the bill was passed with the required majority. The regulation was not supported by Poland, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Finland and Sweden.
For the first time ever, the regulation provides for the adoption of measures to not only protect but also restore nature. The document will help the EU meet its international commitments, particularly regarding the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework, agreed to at the 2022 UN conference. (COP15).
Restoration of terrestrial and marine ecosystems
The new legislation is aimed at restoring degraded ecosystems in member states’ terrestrial and marine habitats, achieving the EU’s overarching climate change mitigation and adaptation goals, and enhancing food security. The regulation requires member states to establish and implement measures to collectively restore at least 20 percent of the EU land and sea areas by 2030.
The regulation covers a range of terrestrial, coastal and freshwater, forest, agricultural and urban ecosystems, including wetlands, grasslands, forests, rivers and lakes, as well as marine ecosystems, including seagrass and sponge and coral banks. By 2030. Member states will give priority to Natura 2000 sites when implementing restoration measures.
In habitats considered bad, listed in the regulation, member states will take measures to restore at least:
- 30 percent. By 2030;
- 60 percent. By 2040;
- 90%. By 2050.
Protecting pollinators
The abundance and diversity of wild pollinating insects in Europe has declined dramatically in recent decades. To address this problem, the regulation introduces specific requirements for measures to reverse the decline by 2030 at the latest.
Protection of ecosystems
The regulation sets out specific requirements for different types of ecosystems, including agricultural land, forests and cities. Member states, according to the regulation, will introduce measures to improve two of these three indicators: populations of useful butterflies, organic carbon stocks in mineral soils of arable fields, and the share of agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features.
In addition, member states will implement measures to restore drained peatlands and help plant at least 3 billion additional trees by 2030. At the EU level. So that by 2030. Transform at least 25,000. km of rivers into free-flowing watercourses, member states will take measures to remove artificial barriers to surface water connectivity.
National reconstruction plans
Under the new rules, member states must plan ahead and submit national reconstruction plans to the European Commission, showing how they will meet the targets set. They must also monitor and report on their progress based on EU-wide biodiversity indicators.
When will the new regulations take effect?
The regulation will be published in the Official Journal of the EU and will come into force 20 days later. It will be directly applicable in all member states. By 2033. The European Commission will monitor the application of the regulation and its impact on the agricultural, fishing and forestry sectors, as well as its broader socio-economic effects.