The economic cost of the degradation of nature is very high. Despite EU and international efforts, biodiversity loss and the degradation of ecosystems continue at an alarming rate, harming people, the economy, nature and the climate. Today, over 80% of conservation status assessments for European habitat types are in poor or bad status with many further deteriorating. Past efforts to protect and preserve nature have not been able to reverse this worrying trend. European ecosystems are under increasing pressure especially from land use and land use changes and suffer from climate change and other threats such as nutrient pollution due to overuse of fertilizers and chemical inputs. 

Only healthy and productive ecosystems can provide the many services we all depend on, including resilience to natural disasters such as droughts and floods as well as long-term food security.  The Commission, therefore, adopted a proposal for a Nature Restoration Law on 22 June 2022, as a key element of the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy. Key objectives of the proposals were to restore damaged ecosystems and bring nature back across Europe, from agricultural land and seas, to forests and urban environments, as well as to reduce the use and risk of chemical pesticides by 50% by 2030.

The Commission proposal included targets 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 the proposal, legally binding targets for nature restoration in different ecosystems would apply to every Member State, complementing existing laws, with the aim 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 new law is to build 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.

The targets included in the Commission proposals concerned:

• Reversing the decline of pollinator populations by 2030 and increasing their populations from there 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 net gain of green space  that is integrated to 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 sea grasses or sediment bottoms, and restoring the habitats of iconic marine species such as dolphins and porpoises, sharks and seabirds; and
• 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 proposal required Member States to develop National Restoration Plans, in close cooperation with scientists, interested stakeholders and the public.

On the use of chemical pesticides the Commission proposal contained 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, requiring from Member States to set their own national reduction targets within defined parameters to ensure that the EU wide targets are achieved. Also proposed was a ban on all pesticides in sensitive areas, 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.

The existing Directive on Sustainable use of Pesticides was proposed to be transformed into a Regulation directly applicable in Member States.

The political agreement reached on the Law on Nature Restoration foresees national action to make ecosystems healthy and productive. Different restoration targets will apply to different ecosystems and Member States will decide the specific measures that will apply on their territories. For this purpose, they will develop national restoration plans, with restoration needs and measures adapted to the local context and a timeline for their implementation. They will develop these plans involving local communities and civil society. 

The plans should seek synergies with climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation and disaster prevention, as well as with agriculture and forestry.  

Specific objectives for various ecosystems will cover for example improving the state of the EU's key land and marine habitats, urban ecosystems, rivers and floodplains, or improving pollinator diversity. 

More information:

• Webpage on the nature restoration law
• Proposal for a Nature Restoration Law
• Proposal for a Regulation on Sustainable Use of Pesticides
• Commission Press Release 22 June 2022
• Commission Press Release 9 November 2023