Nature Restoration Plan: What Does the European Union's New Plan Entail?

On June 17, the Nature Restoration Plan finally got approved by the European Union. The ambitious plan intends to make pivotal efforts to restore the degraded ecosystems. The Nature Restoration Plan intends to bring in the continent-wide effort. The 2030 biodiversity strategy of the European Union has the Nature Restoration Plan as one of its strongest elements.  Additionally, these biodiversity goals are a central element of the broader European Green Deal.

The new law

The aim of the new law brought forward by the European Union is to restore degraded ecosystems. Now, these ecosystems comprise habitats and species that exist on the European Union's seas and land.

The purpose is to:

• Contribute to the fulfillment of the EU's objectives centered around climate mitigation and climate adaptation.
• enable the sustained and long-term recovery of resilient nature and biodiverse
• Fulfill the international commitments.

As per the European Union, over 81 percent of the habitats in the European Union at present hold a "poor" status. The situation is alarming, as one in every three butterfly or bee species is actually in decline at present.

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The new law and its targets

The first and foremost target of the new plan is to kickstart the recovery of the ecosystems. These measures are aimed at covering over 20 percent of the land and sea of the European Union by the year 2030, and all the ecosystems that require restoration by the year 2050. This has been stated by the commission. The target is to first prioritize the areas falling under the Natura 2000. The Natura 2000 stands as a network of a total of 27,000 natural sites that are safeguarded by the European Union legislation.

Apart from this, there are several specific targets too, that the Restoration Law has set on the basis of the legislations at present for forest, agricultural, urban, and marine ecosystems. It also sets targets centered around river connectivity and pollinating insects.

A few of these specific targets are as follows:

• By the year 2030, there should be no net loss of green urban space and tree cover. The aim is also to bring an increase in their region thereafter.
• Enhancing the stock of organic carbon.
• To reverse the decline of pollinator population by the year 2030.
• To restore about 25,000 km of rivers and bring them to a free-flowing condition by the year 2030.
• To restore the habitats of marine species like porpoises, seabirds, sharks, and dolphins.

Finally, the implementation of the law

Now that the law is formed, the nations of the European Union are supposed to submit the National Restoration Plans to the Commission. This has to be done by mid-2026, which means that the submission should be done within two years. The countries are expected to specify their plans in order to achieve the targets. Reporting and monitoring the progress on these aims will be done by the nations themselves. Next, the technical reports on the progress will be prepared by the European Environment Agency.

The European Commission will be reporting to the European Parliament and the Council on the implementation of the law.

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