The Nature Restoration Act was rejected by the Environment Committee of the European Parliament, with a tie of 44 votes in favor and 44 votes against.
A legislative proposal to reverse biodiversity loss by rehabilitating degraded areas of land and sea in Europe has drawn criticism from conservative parties.
If the plenary session is chosen to have a structure similar to that of the 88-member committee, legislators will not be able to enter into negotiations with member states that have already agreed on a common position. This can lead to the ineffectiveness of the law.
The Nature Restoration Law will be voted by the European Parliament during the plenary session on 13 July.
If the Law is approved, it will go into a phase of negotiations between the European Parliament, national governments and the European Commission to reach an agreement on the final text.
denial of law
In recent months, the European People’s Party (EPP) has been actively campaigning against the Nature Restoration Act. This law aims to protect and preserve the environment, but the PPE has expressed its disagreement with it.
The group argues that this technology poses a direct threat to the traditional livelihoods of European farmers, fishermen and forest managers.
It is argued that legally binding land rehabilitation targets can negatively affect supply chains, reduce food production and increase prices for consumers.
In the June 15 session, EPP leader Manfred Weber reshuffled the party’s deputies in the Environment Committee with the aim of obtaining the maximum number of votes against the proposal.
Greenpeace denounced that, although Conservative MEPs were not able to completely overturn the law in the Environment committee, they managed to gain support to obstruct it.
In this case, the natural restoration date established in the bill was postponed to 2035. In addition, the target for restoration of natural areas was reduced from 20% to 10%.
arguments in favor
However, more than 3,000 scientists expressed concern about the inaccuracies and misinformation spread by those who oppose this law, including false threats to food security and employment.
Progressive parties, environmental NGOs, climate scientists and the renewable energy industry say restoring nature can be reconciled with economic activity. Both objectives are considered compatible by these organizations and subject matter experts.
In June, several large companies, including IKEA, Nestlé, H&M, Iberdrola and Unilever, came together to send a letter to lawmakers. In that letter, they urged the rapid adoption of norms that promote the restoration of nature.
The implementation of these measures would bring legal certainty to companies, guarantee fair competition and encourage innovation.
“Our confidence in a healthy environment is critical to the resilience of our economies and ultimately to our long-term success,” the CEOs wrote.
Every month we receive dire warnings about the damage we are doing to the nature we depend on: scientific studies of disappearing insects, massive forest fires and floods, etc. The scientific community is clear: if we don’t restore nature, we will see major extinctions and the collapse of our ability to produce food and survive global warming. It is a pity that politicians and lobbyists have spread the lie that nature and agriculture are somehow in conflict: the whole of Parliament should ignore this nonsense and vote to restore Europe’s extremely valuable nature” – Špela Bandelj, Head of Greenpeace’s Central and Eastern Europe Campaign.
Bottom
The Nature Restoration Law, presented for the first time by the European Commission in June 2022, is part of the European Green Deal and the 2030 biodiversity strategy. This legislation has as its main objective to promote the recovery and protection of the environment in Europe.
The main objective of the legislation is the rehabilitation of habitats and species that have suffered degradation due to human intervention and climate change. This measure aims to restore and preserve biodiversity for the benefit of the environment and future generations.
The Commission states that 81% of European habitats are in precarious conditions, with peat bogs, pastures and dunes being the most affected.
The law aims to establish legally binding targets in seven specific areas, such as the protection of agricultural land, pollinators, unrestricted rivers and marine ecosystems. These targets must cover at least 20% of the European Union’s land and sea surface by the year 2030.
Subsequently, a new target of 30% was established for the bloc to be in line with the historic agreement reached last December during COP15 in Montreal.
According to the legislation, Member States will be obliged to draw up long-term plans to restore nature. These plans should include the projects and initiatives they intend to carry out to achieve the established general objectives.
Among the options available are planting trees, keeping bees, restoring dry wetlands and expanding green areas in urban areas.
When the Nature Restoration Act was introduced, environmental organizations welcomed it, applauding both its legally binding objectives and its broad scope.
The proposal generated a strong reaction from farmersfishermen and foresters, who considered it an “ill-conceived, unrealistic and unfeasible” proposal, arguing that it would have “devastating consequences”.
The EPP used that reaction as a basis for launching its opposition, which critics say is heavily influenced by the upcoming European elections and the sudden rise of the BBB, the populist agrarian party that has caused a stir in Dutch politics.
With information from servindi.org