ENVIRONMENT - Green Deal: Pioneering proposals to restore Europe's nature by 2050 and halve pesticide use by 2030

The Commission adopted proposals for Regulations to restore damaged ecosystems and bring nature back across Europe, from agricultural land and seas to forests and urban environments, and to reduce the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50 % by 2030.

date: 01/07/2022

The proposal for a Regulation on nature restoration — mostly referred to as the Nature Restoration Law — is considered a key step in avoiding ecosystem collapse and preventing the worst impacts of climate change and biodiversity loss. Restoring EU wetlands, rivers, forests, grasslands, marine ecosystems, urban environments and the species they host is a crucial and cost-effective investment in our food security, climate resilience, health, and well-being. In the same vein, the new rules included in the proposed Regulation on chemical pesticides will reduce the environmental footprint of the EU's food system, protect the health and well-being of citizens and agricultural workers, and help mitigate the economic losses that we are already incurring due to declining soil health and pesticide-induced pollinator loss.

The proposed Nature Restoration Law

The proposed legislation is to repair the 80 % of European habitats that are in poor condition, and to bring back nature to all ecosystems, from forest and agricultural land to marine, freshwater and urban ecosystems. Under this proposal for a Nature Restoration Law, legally binding targets for nature restoration in different ecosystems will apply to every Member State, complementing existing laws. The aim is to cover at least 20 % of the EU's land and sea areas by 2030 with nature restoration measures, and eventually extend these to all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.

The Nature Restoration Law will set restoration targets and obligations across a broad range of ecosystems at land and sea. Ecosystems with the greatest potential for removing and storing carbon and preventing or reducing the impact of natural disasters such as floods will be the top priorities. The new law builds on existing legislation but covers all ecosystems rather than being limited to the Habitats Directive and Natura 2000 protected areas, aiming to put all natural and semi-natural ecosystems on the path to recovery by 2030. It will benefit from substantial EU funding: under the current Multiannual Financial Framework, around €100 billion will be available for biodiversity spending, including restoration.

The targets proposed include:

Reversing the decline of pollinator populations by 2030 and increasing their populations from then on.
No net loss of green urban spaces by 2030, a 5 % increase by 2050, a minimum of 10 % tree canopy cover in every European city, town, and suburb, and a net gain of green space that is integrated into buildings and infrastructure.
In agricultural ecosystems, overall increase of biodiversity, and a positive trend for grassland butterflies, farmland birds, organic carbon in cropland mineral soils, and high-diversity landscape features on agricultural land.
Restoration and rewetting of drained peatlands under agricultural use and in peat extraction sites.
In forest ecosystems, overall increase of biodiversity and a positive trend for forest connectivity, deadwood, share of uneven-aged forests, forest birds and stock of organic carbon.
Restoring marine habitats such as seagrasses or sediment bottoms, and restoring the habitats of iconic marine species such as dolphins and porpoises, sharks and seabirds.
Removing river barriers so that at least 25 000 km of rivers would be turned into free-flowing rivers by 2030.

To help deliver on the targets while keeping flexibility for national circumstances, the law would require Member States to develop National Restoration Plans in close cooperation with scientists, interested stakeholders and the public. There are specific rules on governance (monitoring, assessment, planning, reporting and enforcement) – which would also improve policymaking at national and European levels, making sure authorities consider together the related issues of biodiversity, climate and livelihoods.

Rules to reduce the use of chemical pesticides and ensure more sustainable food systems by 2030

The proposed legislation contains legally binding targets at EU and national level to reduce by 50 % the use and the risk of chemical pesticides and the use of the more hazardous pesticides by 2030. Member States will set their own national reduction targets within defined parameters to ensure that the EU-wide targets are achieved. Strict new rules on environmentally friendly pest control: New measures will ensure that all farmers and other professional pesticide users practice Integrated Pest Management (IPM), in which alternative environmentally methods of pest prevention and control are considered first, before chemical pesticides may be used as a last resort measure. The measures also include mandatory record keeping for farmers and other professional users. In addition, Member States have to establish crop-specific rules identifying the alternatives to be used instead of chemical pesticides.

The proposed legislation also foresees a ban on all pesticides in sensitive areas. The use of all pesticides will be prohibited in places such as urban green areas, including public parks or gardens, playgrounds, schools, recreation or sports grounds, public paths and protected areas in accordance with Natura 2000 and any ecologically sensitive area to be preserved for threatened pollinators. These new rules will remove chemical pesticides from our proximity in our everyday lives.

The proposal transforms the existing Directive into a Regulation which will be directly applicable in all Member States. This will tackle the persistent problems with weak and uneven implementation of existing rules over the last decade. Member States will have to submit to the Commission detailed annual progress and implementation reports.

Delivering globally

In line with its policy for sustainable pesticide use, the Commission will soon propose, for the first time ever, a measure that follows up on its commitment to take account of global environmental considerations when deciding on maximum residue levels in food. Imported food containing measurable residues of prohibited substances should, over time, not be marketed in the EU. This will contribute to a virtuous circle and encourage third countries to also limit or prohibit the use of these pesticides, already banned in the EU.

Concretely, the Commission will soon consult Member States and third countries on a measure reducing to zero the residues of thiamethoxam and clothianidin, two substances known to contribute significantly to the worldwide decline of pollinators. These are substances no longer approved in the EU. When the measure is adopted, imported food containing measurable residues of these two substances may – after certain transitional periods - no longer be marketed in the EU.

More information:

Green Deal: Pioneering proposals to restore Europe's nature by 2050 and halve pesticide use by 2030 | 22 June 2022