EU Nature Restoration Law Passes
The EU narrowly passed the Nature Restoration Law on Monday June 17th 2024.
This landmark legislation aims to restore at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, with a goal to restore all degraded ecosystems by 2050. The law sets binding targets for EU member states to rehabilitate various ‘natural’ and managed ecosystems (farmed, fished and forested). Member States will be required to develop Restoration Plans taking account of national circumstances…
🫣 There was drama!
Passing the law was a passionate process on all sides:
Previous versions were rejected by the European parliament’s fisheries and agriculture committees. A coalition of countries including Ireland, Spain and Austria came together to get the vote over the line in the face of opposition from the European People’s party (EPP), a centre-right group including, awkwardly, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.
Green Party Austrian Environment Minister Gewessler’s vote played a crucial role but the centre-right and EPP-affiliated ÖVP, which leads Austria’s coalition government, claimed her actions were unconstitutional. The conservative party plans to submit a legal complaint which could level a charge attracting a 10 year prison sentence under Austrian law.
The EU vote saw vocal interventions from critical industry lobbyists and campaign groups across Europe such as farmers who feel left behind. Proponents justifiably highlighted misinformation and rejections of solid science.
It’s clear implementation of polices like this need to balance agronomic, maritime, and economic risk-benefits. Transitioning our food system will require bringing more people in behind sustainability as an essential priority for securing resilient productivity.
🤓 A quick history of legislation like this:
Astoundingly, or perhaps not, the Birds Directive of 1979 is widely considered the first major piece of EU legislation aimed at nature conservation, establishing a comprehensive scheme of protection for all wild bird species.
This was followed by the Habitats Directive of 1992, which built on the Birds Directive by extending protection to all animals, plants and habitats of European interest. It led to the creation of the cornerstone Natura 2000 Network - protected areas designed to ensure the long-term survival of Europe's most valuable and threatened species and habitats.
The Nature Restoration Law is part of the EU’s wider Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, itself part of the recent European Green Deal. These aim to halt precipitous biodiversity loss and restore ecosystems.
😨 Ecosystems in the EU, and globally, are in a bad place:
If you’re reading this you probably knew that already. But it’s never a waste of breath (or digital ink) to underline how biodiversity loss is spiralling, fuelled by human activity and the climate change we’re causing.
❗Only 3% of the world’s ecosystems remain functionally intact, according to a widely reported paper in the journal Frontiers of Global Change.
❗The future of biodiversity and healthy ecosystems is precarious. We have already degraded nearly 40%, and altered 70%, of the land available to us according to the UN’s Land Report.
❗The World Wide Fund for Nature's Living Planet Report of 2022 documents a 69% average loss in the abundance of mammal, bird, reptile, fish and amphibian species since 1970.
❗Even way back in 2010, the economic cost of biodiversity loss and ecosystem degradation annually was estimated to be between US$2 and US$4.5 trillion (3.3 – 7.5% of global GDP), as reported by PWC in a ‘Biodiversity and Business Risk’ briefing.
Some readers in the business community may worry I’m anti-human or anti ‘human flourishing’ (a term that lobbyists associated with the fossil fuel industry have weaponised). ‘Look!’ They say, another one who thinks humans are an evil cancer on the planet.
Not so fast, let’s remember that biodiversity is essential to human life. It’s fundamental for the ecosystems which make our land-based food system possible as well as deriving the drugs we use to improve and treat our health. Biodiversity also helps manage natural cycles like water, carbon and C02 crucial for environmental balance.
That’s before we consider the contribution it makes to enriching the culture and leisure which adds meaning to our lives. So ‘human flourishing’ can never mean decimating the planet 🤷🏽.
Oh my yes, there was drama. For whatever reason, I've ended up living in Austria, and this definitely caused a [excrement] storm here.
One day Chancellor Nehammer signs a thing saying "We are sending Gewessler to Brussels, and she is entitled to represent us in this vote." and then the next day sends another thing saying "Woopsiedaisy, we're not sure we wanted her to represent us after all."
Oh the drama. Anyway, I'm glad the law was passed, however contraversially. I think this is one of the moments where, when push comes to shove, I think she'll land on the right side of history.