The Nature Restoration Law
This year, on June 17, the Council of the European Union approved an important Nature Restoration Law, which came into force the following August 18. I believe that this law is a milestone for environmental protection in Europe, as for the first time the concept of “restoration” is introduced, as protection alone has not given the desired results. Its approval makes us understand that when political choices follow ethics rather than economic interests the common good will benefit. Thus, the Nature Restoration Law bravely aims to ensure the restoration of ecosystems, guarantee the recovery of a nature rich in biodiversity and resilience in a just European Union so as to contain the intensity and frequency of extreme catastrophic events and to reduce risks to food security. The law also recommends that the European peoples be directly involved in each phase of the development of the Plans of individual States, which must account for them, ensuring the involvement of communities and the strengthening of representative democracy. In line with the objectives of the UN Agenda 2030, the Nature Restoration Law highlights the close relationship between environmental protection and social justice.
It is exactly this close relationship that our GreenPaths Project is highlighting! In effect, similarly to the approval of the Nature Restoration Law, our current research proves that real change for the peoples of Europe is possible when courageous political measures are taken; that the transition is still possible towards a sustainable model of production and consumption focusing on the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions, on adaptation and resilience policies, on the protection of biodiversity and the restoration of ecosystems; that this sustainable transition is also necessarily a shift towards a model based on social cohesion and the reduction of inequalities, in a context of increasing democratic participation. It is then in this context of renewed EU attention to a green and just transition that our GreenPaths Project shows its timely significance, with its purpose to set up a knowledge platform and pave the way for a European network backed by scientific evidence of the impacts of climate and environmental policy interventions. This is still possible! And, it is even more possible now that a legislative framework is established by the Nature Restoration Law in order to restore biodiversity, ensure the resilience of ecosystems, combat the degradation of water and soil (80% degraded) for sustainable agriculture to guarantee good food security.
The Nature Restoration Law aims, in particular, to recover and conserve ecosystems and biodiversity in the long term, in line with European climate objectives and with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. The law is therefore an integral part of the European Green Deal and of the Biodiversity Strategy. Its text is surprisingly advanced, and I think it was necessary because, despite good initial intentions, so far very little has been done to significantly improve the natural ecological balance of our territories. In fact, individual EU States are seriously behind the objectives that Europe had set for itself to improve the quality of ecosystems in order to contain climate-altering emissions within bearable limits. To achieve climate neutrality and the recovery of territories with 20% of protected areas by 2050, EU States will have to take action following gradual but binding methods and timescales, monitor and then implement the areas for protection and restoration, starting with the best development of the Natura 2000 protected areas network, which covers 18% of the European territory and is the largest environmental protection system in the world – and whose protected areas are mostly not in good condition at present. By then, Europe will also have to increase greenery and tree cover in cities, plant and grow 3 billion new trees and make 25,000 kilometres of rivers free from barriers – all under the control of the Copernicus satellite system.
It was already clear to many of us that global warming is leading the climate to collapse. Now, our current GreenPaths Project and the Nature Restoration Law support the awareness that all sectors of the economy relating to our subsistence (energy, construction, infrastructure, fishing, water, agriculture, food, etc.) depend on the good health of natural ecosystems. Even if we did not want to consider the problems of ecology and look only at the economy, a source like the European Environment Agency tells us that every euro invested in the protection and restoration of ecosystems yields, in terms of savings and earnings, 38 times its initial value. Furthermore, according to an Impact Assessment Study of the European Commission, investments in the conservation and restoration of biodiversity could bring, by 2050, economic benefits estimated at 69,596 million euros….
What else do we need to roll up our sleeves?
Giuseppe Mastruzzo, IUC
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