After years of delays and controversies, EU passes Nature Restoration Law

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – After years of delays and controversy, a new measure seeking to restore Europe’s ecosystems and boost biodiversity was passed into law.

Stressing that the Nature Restoration Law is a first of its kind, the EU Council said in a statement: “This law 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.”

By doing so, the law aims to mitigate climate change and the effects of natural disasters and consequently would help the EU fulfill its international environmental commitments, in particular the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework agreed at the 2022 UN Biodiversity Conference (COP15), and to restore European nature, the statement added.

According to the statement, 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 beds.

But conservative parties in Europe raised alarms about the law, claiming it would endanger the bottom line for European farmers and lead to reduced food production and higher prices in supermarkets.

The commission proposed a nature restoration law in 2022, under the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030, which is part of the European Green Deal.​​​​​​​