Brussels: Europe and the Arabs
Today the Council of the European Union officially adopted the first regulation of its kind on nature restoration. This law aims to put in place measures to restore at least 20% of the European Union's terrestrial and marine areas by 2030, and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.
It sets specific, legally binding targets and commitments for nature restoration in each of the ecosystems listed – from terrestrial to marine, freshwater and urban ecosystems.
The regulation aims to mitigate climate change and the effects of natural disasters. It will help the European Union meet its international environmental obligations and restore European nature.
I am pleased by this positive vote on the Nature Restoration Act, which was agreed between the European Parliament and the Council almost a year ago. It is the result of hard work that has paid off. There is no time to rest in protecting our environment. Today, the Council of the European Union chooses to restore nature in Europe, thus protecting biodiversity and the living environment of European citizens. It is our duty to respond to the urgency of the collapse of Europe's biodiversity, but also to enable the European Union to fulfill its international obligations. The European delegation will be able to go to the next COP with its head held high.
Alain Maron, Minister of Climate Transition, Environment, Energy and Participatory Democracy in the Government of the Brussels-Capital Region
Restoring terrestrial and marine ecosystems
The new rules will help restore degraded ecosystems across Member States' terrestrial and marine habitats, achieve the EU's overarching goals on climate change mitigation and adaptation, and enhance food security.
The regulation requires member states to develop and implement measures to restore at least 20% of the EU's land and marine areas by 2030.
The regulation covers a range of terrestrial, coastal, freshwater, forest, agricultural and urban ecosystems, including wetlands, grasslands, forests, rivers and lakes, as well as marine ecosystems, including seagrasses, sponges and coral reefs.
Until 2030, Member States will prioritize Natura 2000 sites when implementing restoration measures.
With respect to habitats considered to be in poor condition, as listed in the Regulation, Member States will take measures to restore:
At least 30% by 2030
At least 60% by 2040
At least 90% by 2050
Non-deterioration efforts
Member States will make efforts to prevent significant degradation in areas where:
It has reached good condition thanks to the restoration
Hosting listed terrestrial and marine habitats
Protect pollinators
In recent decades, the abundance and diversity of wild insect pollinators in Europe has declined dramatically. To address this problem, the Regulation introduces specific requirements for measures to reverse the decline in pollinator numbers by 2030 at the latest.
Ecosystem measures
The regulation sets specific requirements for different types of ecosystems, including farmland, forests and urban ecosystems.
Member States will develop measures aimed at enhancing two of these three indicators: the number of grassland butterflies, the organic carbon stock in the mineral soils of agricultural lands, and the share of agricultural lands characterized by highly diverse landscapes. Increasing forest bird populations and ensuring that there is no net loss of urban green space and tree canopy cover until the end of 2030 are key measures of this new law.
Member states will put in place measures aimed at restoring depleted peatlands and helping plant at least three billion additional trees by 2030 at EU level. In order to convert at least 25,000 km of rivers into free-flowing rivers by 2030, Member States will take measures to remove man-made barriers to surface water delivery.
National restoration plans
Under the new rules, member states must plan ahead and submit national recovery plans to the Commission, detailing how the goals will be achieved. They must also monitor and report on their progress, based on EU-level biodiversity indicators.
The regulation will now be published in the Official Journal of the European Union and enter into force. It will become directly applicable in all Member States.
By 2033, the Commission will review the application of the regulation and its impacts on the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sectors, as well as its broader social and economic impacts.
The European Commission proposed the Nature Restoration Act on 22 June 2022, within the framework of the EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030, which is part of the European Green Deal. More than 80% of European habitats are in poor condition. Previous efforts to protect and preserve nature have been unable to reverse this worrying trend.
For this reason, for the first time ever, the Regulation decided to adopt measures not only to preserve nature, but also to restore it.The regulation will help the EU reach its international commitments, in particular the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed at the 2022 United Nations Conference on Biodiversity (COP15).