Scientists from almost all EU Member States have joined voices to address individually the Members of the European Parliament (MEPs) with the following letter:
At the end of February, you will be voting on the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) in the European Parliament. As you know, the NRL has been discussed intensively in the committees and in the trilogue, and has eventually received broad support by the Environment Committee.
The final version of the NRL has received broad approval from civil society and the scientific community. Already in 2022, after a call from SER Europe, 49 expert organisations and 1400 individual scientists called for an ambitious restoration law (http://tinyurl.com/mva45vy3). However, we are concerned that shortly before the upcoming vote in the European Parliament, attempts are once again being made to discredit the NRL and to instrumentalise the current protests of farmers for this purpose. In 2023, more than 6000 scientists signed a letter supporting the NRL and indicated misinformation spread in the public discussion (https://zenodo.org/records/8128624).
In a recent article published in Science, the strengths of the NRL and the challenges it faces have been analysed.
Hering et al. 2023 Science with annexes
We believe that this article will be of interest to decision-makers.
According to this analysis, the NRL will contribute significantly to:
- safeguard the EU’s natural heritage and reverse the loss of biodiversity in Europe;
- implement other EU directives and policies more effectively (e.g. the Water Framework Directive, the Marine Strategy Directive, the Biodiversity Strategy and the Common Agricultural Policy);
- strengthen the links between nature conservation and land users (agriculture, forestry, fisheries);
- make European ecosystems more resilient to climate change and thus strengthen rural and urban areas;
- and provide a model for modern and sustainable nature conservation that can serve as an example worldwide.
The NRL will also be important from a legal perspective, as recently analysed by SER Europe’s Legal Working Group on Restoration (http://tinyurl.com/yzryh74c). It will provide legal certainty by setting a clear and unique legal framework providing alignment with existing policies and laws, including conservation, climate mitigation and adaptation, renewable energy and agriculture. It will allow for greater flexibility in human activities, as restored ecosystems are more robust, resilient and better equipped to handle environmental pressures.
Rejecting the law would have far-reaching negative legal consequences. At EU and Member State level, it would lead to legal uncertainty, as long as ecosystems remain in a bad conservation status and targets and deadlines on restoration are missing. At the global level, the EU would jeopardise its leading role and credibility as an environmental player in the international sphere.
Despite all the challenges of implementation, the NRL can become a success story whose impact will also radiate into other areas of the Green Deal that have been less successful to date.
With this in mind, we would be delighted if you would vote in favour of the NRL at the end of February.