The Nature Restoration Law is a game changer for fighting climate change

By Efi Xanthou

On July 12, 2023 the European Parliament adopted the Nature Restoration Law. This was excellent news since there was a big push from specific European political parties and lobby groups to scrap the law, a fact that was made apparent when the initial vote was postponed.

The Nature Restoration Law is the first European Union wide, comprehensive law of its kind. It is a key element of the EU biodiversity strategy, which calls for binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems, in particular those with the most potential to capture and store carbon, and to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters.

It will contribute to achieving the EU’s climate mitigation and climate adaptation objectives and help it meet international commitments. The initial process was envisioned in the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 that was published in May 2020, but has also been incorporated in the European Green Deal. The European Commission adopted the draft law in June 2022, and it has since been debated both by the European Parliament and the European Council.

The law combines an overarching restoration objective for the long-term recovery of nature in the EU’s land and sea areas, with binding restoration targets for specific habitats and species. These measures should cover at least 20 per cent of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and ultimately all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.

This law has been deemed very important by environmental parties and groups all over the European Union, because restoring nature is crucial for protecting ourselves from the floods and droughts that come with the climate crisis.

This law should not be controversial. But in recent months, the European People’s Party (EPP) teamed up with the far right to destroy nature and climate policy, both at national and European level. Together with the right-wing “European Conservatives and Reformists”, the far-right “Identity and Democracy” group, and parts of the market-liberal “Renew” group, the European People’s Party argued the law would hurt food security and punish producers reeling from the pandemic and energy crisis.

Scientists, on the other hand, have rejected the claim that restoring nature is bad for food and the economy. The European Parliament’s environment committee voted down the legislation by a 44-44 margin. But when the legislation was finally put to the vote on the July 12, a motion to reject the legislation in its entirety was rejected and MEPs voted in favour of the bill by only a slim majority, after watering it down on several points. The bill passed by 336 votes in favour of the amended law and 300 against, with 13 abstentions.

The “Greens/EFA” group criticised changes in the approved text that cut a proposal to restore agricultural ecosystems and added a line to delay implementation of the law until after a formal assessment of Europe’s food security. They will send the proposal back to an environment committee before thrashing out details with member states.

The upcoming talks, whose success is by no means guaranteed, are expected to be protracted and divisive, as a consequence of the months-long controversy surrounding the Nature Restoration Law. Most European governments support the Nature Restoration Law – but right-wing governments in the Netherlands, Sweden, Finland, Italy and Poland are against it. The aim of the European Parliament is to reach a deal before EU Parliament elections in 2024.

The EPP ran a highly aggressive campaign against the law on social media. In the weeks leading up to the vote, the EPP tweeted that the proposed law would turn the Finnish city of Rovaniemi, which claims to be the official home of Santa Claus, into a forest. In another tweet, it said the law would shut down two windfarms in the Netherlands. The industry lobby group “WindEurope”, on the other hand, said it had spoken to experts and did not see why this would be the case. Michael Bloss, a German MEP with the Greens/EFA group, said: “The louder you scream and the more false information you spread – that is sometimes a winning strategy. But the loser, in the end, is democratic debate.”

Despite its aggressive tactics, not all members of the aforementioned political parties voted against the Nature Restoration Law. Climate activists, NGOs, scientists, journalists and thousands of others had taken up the fight and lobbied in favour of the law. Citizens wrote letters to MEPs, demonstrated all across the European Union and shared news on social media and through messaging providers. And it worked! Now it’s back to the drawing board and more lobbying to ensure that the text is put to a vote before the European Parliament elections of June 2024.

For the sake of history, let’s note that from our six MEPs, only one voted against the Nature Restoration Law (Elena Stavrou, Disy). The other Cypriot EPP MEP, Loucas Fourlas, was absent from the plenary on July 13, but he had stated to Cypriot web newsletter “Stockwatch” that he would follow the party line. The other four MEPs (GUE/Left’s George Georgiou and Niazi Kizilyiourek (Akel), Costas Mavrides (Diko) and Demetris Papadakis (independent) all voted in favour.

Europe’s nature is in alarming decline, with 60 per cent of its soils deemed unhealthy and more than 80 per cent of habitats being in poor condition. Restoring wetlands, rivers, forests, grasslands, marine ecosystems and the species they host will help. EU countries are expected to submit national restoration plans to the European Commission within two years of the regulation coming into force, showing how they will deliver on the targets. They will also be required to monitor and report on their progress. The European Environment Agency will draw up regular technical reports on progress towards the targets. The commission, in turn, will report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of the Nature Restoration Law.

Efi Xanthou is a political scientist and the Coordinator of the Interior Committee for the Cyprus Greens-Citizens Cooperation, [email protected]