The new law, agreed by Member States, sets a target for the EU to restore at least 20 % of the EU's terrestrial and marine areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.

Late on Thursday evening, Parliament and Council negotiators reached a provisional political agreement on the EU Nature Recovery Act.

Nature restoration objectives

The co-legislators agreed on an EU target to restore at least 20 % of land and 20 % of marine areas by 2030 and to restore all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. To achieve these targets, EU countries must restore at least 30 % of habitat types. under the new law, they will reach good status by 2030, rising to 60 % by 2040 and 90 % by 2050.

Member States will have to adopt national recovery plans detailing how they intend to achieve these targets through an open, transparent and inclusive process. In line with Parliament's position, EU countries should prioritise areas located in Natura 2000 sites until 2030. The co-legislators also agreed that once an area has reached good status, EU countries will try to ensure that it does not deteriorate significantly.

Agricultural ecosystems

To restore nature on land used by the agricultural sector, EU countries will need to put in place measures to achieve a positive trend in two of the following three indicators by the end of 2030 and every six years thereafter:

  • butterfly grazing index
  • proportion of agricultural land with highly diverse landscape features
  • organic carbon stock in mineral soil of arable land.

Restoring drained peatlands is one of the most cost-effective measures to reduce emissions in the agricultural sector and improve biodiversity. EU countries must therefore implement measures to restore organic soils used in agriculture that form drained peatlands on at least 30 % of these areas by 2030 (at least one quarter rewetted), 40 % by 2040 (at least one third rewetted) and 50 % by 2050 (at least one third rewetted), but rewetting will remain voluntary for farmers and private landowners.

EU countries must also reverse the decline in pollinator populations by 2030 at the latest and then achieve an increasing trend measured at least every six years.

Other ecosystems

By 2030, EU countries will need to put in place measures to achieve a positive trend in several indicators in forest ecosystems. At the same time, an additional three billion trees must be planted in the EU and at least 25 000 km of rivers must be restored to free-flowing rivers.

EU countries must also ensure that by 2030 there is no net loss in the total national area of urban green space and tree canopy cover in urban ecosystem areas compared to 2021. After 2030, they must increase this loss, with progress measured every six years.

Financing and the emergency brake

Within 12 months of the entry into force of this Regulation, the Commission will have to assess any gap between the financial needs for rehabilitation and the available EU funding and seek solutions to bridge the gap if it finds one.

Negotiators also agreed on an emergency brake, as requested by the Parliament, so that targets for agricultural ecosystems can be suspended in exceptional circumstances if they have serious EU-wide implications for the availability of land needed to ensure sufficient agricultural production for EU food consumption.

Citation

By agreement, the rapporteur, César Luena (S&D, ES), said: "The agreement reached today is an important collective moment. 70 years after the start of the European project, a European nature recovery law is needed to tackle biodiversity loss. Today's agreement was possible thanks to the initiative and determination of the Commission, the negotiating role of the Spanish Council Presidency, which prioritised this issue, and the understanding attitude of parliamentary groups, especially progressive groups, which were able to work together and compromise to ensure the existence of a nature recovery law. I would also like to highlight and express my gratitude for the crucial role played by the Social Democrats in these negotiations, because without the unity of the S&D Group in support of this law, we would not be celebrating the adoption of the agreement today. ."

Next steps

The agreement still needs to be approved by Parliament and the Council, after which the new law will be published in the Official Journal of the EU and enter into force 20 days later.

Background

More than 80 % European sites are in poor condition. On 22 June 2022, the Commission proposed a Nature Restoration Act to contribute to the long-term restoration of damaged nature in the EU's terrestrial and marine areas and to achieve the EU's climate and biodiversity objectives and meet the EU's international commitments, in particular the UN Kunming - Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. According to the Commission, the new law would bring significant economic benefits, as every euro invested would bring at least €8 in benefits.

This legislation responds to citizens' expectations regarding the protection and restoration of biodiversity, landscapes and oceans as expressed in proposals 2(1), 2(3), 2(4) and 2(5) of the conclusions of the Conference on the Future of Europe.

(europarl.europa.eu/JaV)