The EU Council and EU Parliament reached provisional political agreement last night (Thursday, November 9) on the controversial Nature Restoration Law.
The proposal, put forward by the EU Commission in June 2022, aims to put measures in place to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.
It sets specific, legally binding targets and obligations for nature restoration in each of the listed ecosystems — from agricultural land and forests to marine, freshwater and urban ecosystems.
The deal still has to be endorsed and formally adopted by the parliament and council, after which the new law will be published in the EU Official Journal and enter into force 20 days later.
Nature Restoration Law
To reach the proposed targets, EU countries must restore at least 30% of habitat types covered by the Nature Restoration Law to a good condition by 2030, increasing to 60% by 2040, and 90% by 2050.
Member States will be required to develop national restoration plan detailing how they achieve these targets.
The EU said these plans should be adopted “through an open, transparent and inclusive process”.
EU countries will be required to give priority to areas located in Natura 2000 sites when implementing restoration measures until 2030.
Once an area has achieved a good condition, member states will have to ensure it does not significantly deteriorate.
The regulation introduces specific requirements for member states to set out measures to reverse the decline of pollinator populations by 2030 at the latest.
Agriculture
To restore nature in land used by the agriculture sector, EU countries will have to put in place measures which shall aim to achieve, by the end of 2030, a positive trend in two of the following three indicators:
- the grassland butterfly index;
- the share of agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features;
- the stock of organic carbon in cropland mineral soil.
It also sets timebound targets to increase the common farmland bird index at national level.
The co-legislators agreed to provide flexibility to member states when rewetting peatlands, as it was felt that some countries will be disproportionately impacted by these obligations.
The text sets targets to restore 30% of drained peatlands under agricultural use by 2030, 40% by 2040 and 50% by 2050.
However, member states that are strongly affected will be able to apply a lower percentage.
The EU Parliament and EU Council noted that reaching rewetting targets does not imply an obligation for farmers and private landowners.
Under the agreed text, member states will be required to put measures in place to enhance the biodiversity of forest ecosystems.
A provision was added to which calls on member states to contribute to the planting of at least three billion additional trees across the EU by the end of the decade.
Negotiators agreed on “an emergency brake”, as requested by EU Parliament, so targets for agricultural ecosystems can be suspended under exceptional circumstances.
That measure would kick in if the measures create severe EU wide consequences on the availability of land required to secure sufficient agricultural production for EU food consumption.
The legislators said that within a year of the regulation coming into force, the EU Commission would have to assess any gap in funding needed for restoration measures.
EU Commissioner for Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Virginijus Sinkevicius welcomed the agreement.
“I am convinced that we reached a balanced agreement on the Nature Restoration Law which will make nature our ally again.
“By restoring it to health, we’re helping ourselves and are shielding ourselves against the effects of climate change.
“Healthy nature means adequate supplies of clean water, cleaner air, cooler cities during heatwaves, buffer zones against storms on our coasts and plentiful sources of food,” he said.