The European Parliament’s Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) Committee voted to block theNature Restoration Law (NRL), the draft EU regulation aimed at restoring degraded ecosystems and mitigating biodiversity loss in rural, urban and marine areas.
European People’s Party (EPP), the dominant political group, thus defeats the EU Green Deal and Farm to Fork strategies of ‘its’ Commission. With support from the liberals of Renew Europe and the nationalists of ID(Identity and Democracy), led by Leghist Marco Zanni. (1)
1) GreenDeal, Farm to Fork. European policy against citizens
The green transition announced in the EU #GreenDeal and #Farm2Fork strategies continues to be boycotted by the European Parliament, with theassistance of the Council (and in some cases the Commission itself):
- on October 20, 2020, the Plenary Assembly of the European Parliament voted for a ‘smoky gray’ rather than ‘green’ reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, (2)
- November 10, 2020, the three European institutions agreed to disperse rural development funds reserved for organic farming on any initiative ‘inspired’ by ‘sustainability,’ (3)
- November 23, 2021, the Strasbourg Assembly, in its final vote on the post-2022 CAP, decried the failure of the ecological transition in agriculture (4,5),
- on March 24, 2022, the hemicycle, under the false pretense of food security, allowed the use of pesticides and herbicides in areas of ecological concern, (6)
- on December 19, 2022, the Council requested a new impact assessment on the SUR(Sustainable use and Reduction of Pesticides) proposal, which was thus permanently scuttled, (7)
- May 24, 2023, the Parliament’s AGRI Committee proposed to block the
Nature Restoration Law
, with the support of two-thirds of voters, - May 31, 2023, the Europarliament finally approved ASAP(Act in Support of Ammunition Production) to promote the shipment of missiles to Ukraine, the former granary of Europe. (8)
2) Nature Restoration Law (NRL)
The proposed EU Nature Restoration Law was adopted by the European Commission on June 22, 2022, with the aim of curbing biodiversity loss and restoring the planet’s natural areas. (9) Given the European inability over the past decade (2011-2020) to:
- mitigate biodiversity loss, as (to date in vain) recommended by the European Court of Auditors in Special Report 13/2020, (10)
- restore at least 15 percent of degraded ecosystems, as stipulated in the International Convention on Biological Diversity. (11)
‘Bringing back Nature in our lives’
is after all the European Commission’s stated goal in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. To be pursued not only through reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and the Farm to Fork strategy (boycotted in the meantime, as noted), but also through the adoption of binding targets for all member states. (12)
2.1) NRL, because.
Nature Restoration Law
is the first-ever legislative proposal to restore biodiversity and degraded ecosystems, which account for 81 percent of habitats in the Old Continent. Taking into account that the restoration of wetlands, rivers, forests, grasslands, marine ecosystems and the species they host plays a crucial role in ecosystem functions:
- water and air purification, crop pollination, flood and drought protection, and limiting global warming to within +1.5°C,
- Prevention of natural disasters and risk reduction for food supply security(food security).
The correlations between a healthy ecosystem, human health, and protection from climate disasters are amply demonstrated by scientific studies, most recently recalled in the IPCC 2022 report. (13) And the ROI(Return on Investment) of 1 euro devoted to the restoration of degraded ecosystems is estimated to vary between 8 and 38 euros.
2.2) NRL, as
The long-term restoration of ecosystems, habitats and species in terrestrial and marine areas in the proposed Nature Restoration Law includes specific binding targets for habitats and species. Which should cover at least 20 percent of the EU’s land and marine areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.
Specific objectives-in addition to an overall goal of large-scale biodiversity restoration-are:
- pollinators. Reversing the trend from persistent decline to increasing populations by 2030, to be measured through harmonized monitoring methods, (14)
- forest ecosystems. Obtain a trend of increasing timber in situ, disuniform age forests, forest connectivity, abundance of common forest birds, and organic carbon stock,
- Urban ecosystems. No net loss of urban green space by 2030 and increase in total area covered by urban green space, by 2040 and 2050
- Agricultural ecosystems. Increased pasture butterflies and birds in farmland, the stock of organic carbon in cultivated mineral soils, and the share of farmland with high diversity landscape features. With restoration of depleted peatlands to agricultural use,
- marine ecosystems. Restoration of marine habitats such as seagrass beds, sedimentary bottoms, and those of iconic marine species such as dolphins and porpoises, sharks, and seabirds,
- River connectivity. Identify and remove barriers that prevent surface water connectivity, so as to return at least 25,000 km of rivers to a navigable state by 2030.
2.3) NRL, the boycott in the European Parliament.
The boycott of Nature Restoration Law – May 23, 2023, to the European Parliament’s AGRI Committee – prompted the various political groups to reopen negotiations ahead of the June 15 consideration of the proposal at the ENVI referral committee (Environment, Public Health and Food Safety), which will precede the plenary vote.
The European People’s Party-with the excuse of the war in Ukraine, it insists on foraging with new weapons instead of resolving through negotiations for lasting peace on the pan-European continent-withdraws from the Nature Restoration Law debate. Biodiversity gives way to voting interests in the run-up to the 2024 European elections.
3) Civil society, outrage
Civil society – through organizations active in the protection of human, animal and ecosystem health, which follow parliamentary work live – expressed outrage at the People’s Political Group (EPP, European People’s Party), as well as toward the liberals of Renew Europe and Eurosceptic right-wingers in ID (15,16).
However, the ‘socialists and democrats,’ it is worth remembering, are equally subservient to the lobbies of the pesticide and seed monopolists(Big 4), and so of the large agricultural confederations that also represent their interests. In addition to the betrayals mentioned in the introduction (see para. 1) recall Paolo De Castro’s (S&D) promises to deregulate new GMOs (17,18).
4) No bees, No future!
On May 23, 2023, that is, the day before the boycott of the Nature Restoration Law, the two first political groups in the European Parliament (EPP, S&D) had organized an event dedicated to beekeeping in Europe. ‘Beekeping, an Agricultural Sector under Stress. And how on earth can one believe in curbing bee stress without restoring green corridors for pollinating insects, ecological focus areas and agrotoxin-free fallow land, and biodiversity in general?
Dario Dongo
Notes
(1) Nature Restoration Law: EU agriculture’s lawmakers vote against farmers’ future and food security. https://eeb.org/nature-restoration-law-eu-agricultures-lawmakers-vote-against-farmers-future-and-food-security/European Environmental Bureau. 23.5.23
(2) Dario Dongo. Post-2020 CAP, smoke gray. An organic revolution is needed. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 22.10.20
(3) Dario Dongo, Silvia Giordanengo. EU Budget 2021-2027 and #NextGenerationEU, focus on rural development and CAP financing. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 3.12.20
(4) Marta Strinati. CAP post-2022, the failure of the ecological transition in agriculture. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 24.11.21
(5) Marta Strinati. CAP post 2022, eco-schemes disappoint expectations. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 12.12.21
(6) Dario Dongo. Food security, thesis and antithesis of the European Parliament. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 27.3.22
(7) Alessandra Mei. Regulation on the sustainable use of pesticides, SUR. The travails of EU reform. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 20.12.22
(8) MEPs endorse plan to provide more ammunition for Ukraine. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/press-room/20230524IPR91909/meps-endorse-plan-to-provide-more-ammunition-for-ukraine European Parliament. 1.6.23
(9) European Commission. Proposal for a Regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on nature restoration (COM/2022/304 final) https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=CELEX%3A52022PC0304&qid=1685728385402
(10) Dario Dongo, Marina De Nobili. CAP, pesticides and biodiversity. EU Court of Auditors Report. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 29.7.20
(11) The Strategic Plan for 2011-2020 of the Convention on Biological Diversity included the 20 Aichi Biodiversity Targets. Aichi Target 15 called for the restoration of at least 15 percent of degraded ecosystems by 2020 to help mitigate climate change and combat desertification. V. https://www.cbd.int/sp/targets/rationale/target-15/
(12) Dario Dongo, Giulia Torre. Special – EU 2030 Strategy for Biodiversity, the plan announced in Brussels. GIFT(Great Italian Food Trade). 31.5.20
(13) Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. IPCC sixth assessment report. Impacts, adaptation and vulnerability. https://www.ipcc.ch/report/ar6/wg2/
(14) Dario Dongo, Andrea Adelmo Della Penna. World Bee Day. No suitable policy. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 20.5.23
(15) Agri MEPs vote to reject the Nature Restoration Law – what’s next? https://www.arc2020.eu/agri-meps-vote-to-reject-the-nature-restoration-law-whats-next/Arc 2020. 23.5.23
(16) Nature restoration law news – Environment committee edging toward deal as EPP walks out. https://www.arc2020.eu/nature-restoration-law-news-environment-committee-edgingtowards-deal-as-epp-walks-out/Arc 2020. 31.5.23
(17) Dario Dongo. GMOs, the new empire advancing. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 26.7.19
(18) Dario Dongo. New GMOs, deregulation proposal nears EU policy debate. Crisis of public confidence. GIFT (Great Italian Food Trade). 22.4.23
Dario Dongo, lawyer and journalist, PhD in international food law, founder of WIISE (FARE - GIFT - Food Times) and Égalité.