Actualité | 14 Juin, 2024

Last steps towards the EU Nature Restoration Law

The first EU-wide regulation on nature restoration represents a bold and historic opportunity to create a better future for the citizens of Europe, and to serve as a leading example for the world. It is therefore with great concern that IUCN has followed recent developments in the process towards this legislation’s adoption. We encourage the Council of the EU to continue supporting the inter-institutional provisional agreement reached in November 2023, and to follow the European Parliament’s endorsement obtained in February 2024.

Plitvice Lakes National Park, Croatia

Photo: Ante Hamersmit

Investing in the restoration of European nature will be crucial for our current and future well-being, as we experience the proliferation of climate change-related threats such as drought, wildfire, and flooding. While all economic sectors will feel the impacts of climate change, certain sectors such as agriculture and forestry are particularly vulnerable due to their high dependence on healthy well-functioning ecosystems. These stakeholders thus have more to gain from a comprehensive Union-wide nature restoration law.

Relevant sectors’ concerns have been thoroughly addressed during the trilogues and are reflected in the provisional agreement reached in November 2023, which has strong support from citizens, civil society, and businesses across the EU. It is deeply worrying that progress of this crucial science-based law is currently facing challenges in its final stages.

IUCN thus calls on EU Member States to stand behind the common agreement that is already reached, and to jointly capitalise on this opportunity to strengthen the resilience, competitivity and sustainability of the EU economy through the restoration of nature.