The Nature Restoration Law is the first continent-wide, comprehensive law of its kind. It is a key element of the EU Biodiversity Strategy, which sets binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems, in particular those with the most potential to capture and store carbon and to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters.
Europe’s nature is in alarming decline, with more than 80% of habitats in poor condition. Restoring wetlands, rivers, forests, grasslands, marine ecosystems, and the species they host will help
- increase biodiversity
- secure the things nature does for free, like cleaning our water and air, pollinating crops, and protecting us from floods
- limit global warming to 1.5°C
- build up Europe’s resilience and strategic autonomy, preventing natural disasters and reducing risks to food security
Objectives
The law aims to restore ecosystems, habitats and species across the EU’s land and sea areas in order to
- enable the long-term and sustained recovery of biodiverse and resilient nature
- contribute to achieving the EU’s climate mitigation and climate adaptation objectives
- meet international commitments
In the EU
Targets
The regulation combines an overarching restoration objective for the long-term recovery of nature in the EU’s land and sea areas with binding restoration targets for specific habitats and species. These measures should cover at least 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, and ultimately all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.
The regulation contains the following specific targets:
- targets based on existing legislation (for wetlands, forests, grasslands, river and lakes, heath & scrub, rocky habitats and dunes) - improving and re-establishing biodiverse habitats on a large scale, and bringing back species populations by improving and enlarging their habitats
- pollinating insects – reversing the decline of pollinator populations by 2030, and achieving an increasing trend for pollinator populations, with a methodology for regular monitoring of pollinators
- forest ecosystems – achieving an increasing trend for standing and lying deadwood, uneven aged forests, forest connectivity, abundance of common forest birds and stock of organic carbon
- urban ecosystems – no net loss of green urban space and tree cover by 2030, and a steady increase in their total area from 2030
- agricultural ecosystems – increasing grassland butterflies and farmland birds, the stock of organic carbon in cropland mineral soils, and the share of agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features; restoring drained peatlands under agricultural use
- marine ecosystems – restoring marine habitats such as seagrass beds or sediment bottoms that deliver significant benefits, including for climate change mitigation, and restoring the habitats of iconic marine species such as dolphins and porpoises, sharks and seabirds.
- river connectivity – identifying and removing barriers that prevent the connectivity of surface waters, so that at least 25 000 km of rivers are restored to a free-flowing state by 2030
Implementation
EU countries are expected to submit National Restoration Plans to the Commission within two years of the Regulation coming into force (so by mid 2026), showing how they will deliver on the targets. They will also be required to monitor and report on their progress. The European Environment Agency will draw up regular technical reports on progress towards the targets. The Commission, in turn, will report to the European Parliament and to the Council on the implementation of the Nature Restoration Law.
- 18 August 2024Nature Restoration Law enters into force
- 27 February 2024European Parliament agrees final text for Nature Restoration Law
- December 2020 - September 2021Five stakeholder workshops took place
These workshops discussed policy options and collect views from a broad range of stakeholders on:
- the options for restoration targets, how these targets should be implemented, and the potential social, economic and wider environmental impacts that need to be considered
- the preliminary findings of the impact assessment support study.
- 11 January - 5 April 2021Online public consultation open for feedback
This public consultation collected stakeholder views, in particular on the main elements and approach to devising the Commission's proposal for binding restoration targets.
- 4 November - 2 December 2020Public feedback on the Inception Impact Assessment
This Inception Impact Assessment collected feedback from stakeholders and the public on the main elements of the initiative.
- 20 May 2020Publication of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030
Documents
- Nature Restoration Law text
- Proposal for a Nature Restoration Law
- Factsheet on Nature Restoration Law
- Factsheet on Biodiversity and Resilience
- Brochure on Nature Restoration
- Map of successful nature restoration projects
- Roadmap - EU nature restoration targets
- EU nature restoration targets - Consultation Strategy
- Impact assessment study to support the development of legally binding EU nature restoration targets
- Impact assessment study to support the development of legally binding EU nature restoration targets - Annex 3, Ecosystem specific assessments
