The European Commission is moving forward with its legislative proposal that will set legally binding EU targets for nature restoration in the European Union by 2030 under the EU Biodiversity Strategy.
The proposal will take the form of a regulation providing a framework for imposing targets on member states to restore at least 20% of the EU’s terrestrial and marine ecosystems by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050, according to a leaked draft of the text, dated 18 February and seen by EUROPE.
The presentation of the regulation, initially announced for November 2021, had been postponed several times (see EUROPE 12839/25), as was the fifteenth United Nations Conference on Biological Diversity (COP15 in Kunming, China), the second segment of which is now scheduled to take place this year (see EUROPE 12859/30, 12809/6).
The content of the future EU regulation is expected to be officially disclosed on 23 March, according to the latest provisional timetable of the College of European Commissioners (see EUROPE 12879/7).
In its Biodiversity Strategy 2030, presented in May 2020, the Commission proposed a target for the EU to protect and restore at least 30% of marine and terrestrial areas by 2030 and to provide strict protection to at least one third of the entire network of protected areas - representing 10% of the EU’s territory and 10% of the EU’s seas - including primary forests, which will have to be mapped and vigilantly monitored (see EUROPE 12491/2).
It had stressed that protection alone would not be enough and that, to reverse the loss of biodiversity, much more would have to be done to restore nature to good health throughout the EU, in protected areas and beyond.
Hence this binding proposal to restore degraded ecosystems, especially those with the greatest potential to remove and store carbon, for the sake of the climate and to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters.
National plans for restoration. To meet the targets, Member States will be required, under this proposal, to put in place, “as soon as possible”, restoration measures “which together shall cover at least 20% of the Union’s land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050”.
Restoration targets may first be set for habitat types protected by the Habitats Directive (92/43/EEC), for which methods already exist to determine good condition, the text states.
Interactions with the Common Agricultural Policy are based on specific targets for grassland habitats (from Annex I) and, more broadly, for all EU agro-ecosystems, based on evidence of improvement in a range of indicators that enhance biodiversity.
Member States will be obliged to restore and re-irrigate agricultural peatlands and to continuously improve the condition of forests.
A follow-up and review in 2035. The proposal suggests that Member States will report to the Commission on the progress made in meeting the objectives and obligations of the Regulation, in implementing the restoration measures foreseen in their national restoration plans and on the evolution of the restored areas. On this basis and using other available data, such as, for example, from the Copernicus satellite programme, the Commission would produce progress reports.
The application of the regulation is expected to be reviewed by 2035 to ensure that its objectives are being met and that its impact is guaranteed and justified. The review would be accompanied, if necessary, by additional and binding ecosystem restoration targets based on new methods for assessing the state of ecosystems.
Synergies with other initiatives. As many terrestrial ecosystems depend on and interact with soils, the proposal has synergies with the EU Soil Strategy presented in November 2021 and any other soil-related objectives that will be considered in the context of the future soil health legislation foreseen in 2023 (see EUROPE 12834/2), the Commission underlines.
In addition, the proposed objective of reversing the decline of pollinators will be a key element in the implementation of the European Pollinators Initiative, and the proposal’s objectives of increasing green space in urban areas will have a direct impact on the Green Infrastructure Strategy and contribute to its implementation.
Good, but can do better, says MEP Delara Burkhardt. Reacting to the draft regulation on Monday, MEP Delara Burkhardt (S&D, Germany) welcomed it as a commendable but insufficient step forward.
“Peatlands and forests are our strongest allies in the fight against climate change and can thus become homes of biodiversity again. However, the proposal still leaves too much leeway to the Member States on how they want to measure the improvement of these ecosystems and what is considered a desirable conservation status, bringing with it the danger that the Member States will approach the matter with little ambition due to pressure from the agriculture and forestry sector”, she commented.
Recalling that in June 2021, the European Parliament had called for at least 30% of the EU’s land and marine areas to be covered by the initiative (see EUROPE 12737/5), she called for an increase in the general level of ambition of the text.
And she added: “It also remains to be clarified whether the draft simply reaffirms the restoration obligations of the existing EU directives on flora, fauna and habitat, or introduces much needed additional obligations and clarifications”.
See the draft regulation: https://aeur.eu/f/es (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)