Today, the European Parliament voted in favour of the Nature Restoration Law, which was previously agreed by the Parliament and Council negotiating teams during the trialogue last November. The next and final step will be the Council’s endorsement of the text.

This regulation covers a wide range of ecosystems, each with defined restoration targets. Concerning agricultural and forest ecosystems, specific indicators which show potential trends to improve biodiversity are listed. Additional targets are set up for rivers, pollinators, and urban ecosystems.

The restoration of habitat is key for the recovery of small game, which has heavily been affected by a change in land-use across Europe.

The successful implementation of this law will depend on Member States’ designing good ‘National Restoration Plans’ in a proactive way with stakeholders such as farmers, landowners, hunters, foresters, and other key actors. This is essential to ensure the initiatives on the ground are successful in the long term.

Commenting on the outcome, Torbjörn Larsson, FACE President, stated that: