Editorials

The Irish Times view on Europe’s Nature Restoration Law: a vital measure which needs to be revived

The law was welcomed by a broad coalition of interests, but opportunistic politics has left its future in doubt

A pair of Common Cranes which returned from their wintering grounds to one of Bord na Móna’s rewetted peatlands last year and successfully fledged a new chick. An EU funded scheme involves the rehabilitation of Bord na Móna’s peatlands, and aims to rewet drained peatlands for improved climate, environmental, ecological and hydrological impacts. (Photo: James Crombie: Inpho)

Sun May 12 2024 - 20:46

Traditional festivals all over Europe at this time of year celebrate spring flourishing its way into summer. They have deep roots in communities who work on the land, transforming nature’s bounty into the products that sustain us all.

Travelling across Irish and other European landscapes today, however, gives less cause for celebration, and much cause for concern. In Ireland, we see hedgerows, once full of life, needlessly gouged out, or scorched a uniform brown by herbicides and rhododendron overwhelming the ancient landscape.

You can travel many hours in central Europe and see nothing but monocultural industrial agriculture. Drought, caused by over-irrigation and climate change, has dried out world-class wetlands like Doñana in Spain, threatens water supply in Catalonia, and intensifies wildfires across the Mediterranean.

Science demonstrates that the interlinked biodiversity and climate crises affect everything from food production to mental health. But the relatively new science of restoration ecology offers hope: natural systems can be restored to biodiverse productivity, often by fairly simple (and often very cost-effective) land-management changes.

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That science informs the Nature Restoration Law proposed by the European Commission, with binding restoration targets, especially for ecosystems with “the most potential to capture and store carbon and to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters.”

One would imagine that any sane society would embrace this opportunity. And the law was welcomed and promoted by an exceptionally broad coalition of citizens, NGOs and businesses after extensive consultation. But the rationale was not communicated effectively to many farmers.

So the European People’s Party saw an opportunity to exploit farmers’ legitimate grievances in advance of the EU elections, and campaigned virulently against the law. The EPP diluted some of its most vital provisions, often misrepresenting them.

When the watered-down version still squeaked through the European Parliament last summer, at least some pathways to restoring our landscapes opened up. The European Council was expected to follow precedent and endorse the parliament’s decision last March. However, in a move which undermines EU democratic practice, Hungary changed its vote. The law went into limbo.

There is one chance to save it, if one country which opposed it, or abstained, supports it at the last council meeting of the Belgian presidency on June 17th. Some Irish Ministers are understood to be working energetically to make this happen. A great deal depends on the success of those supporting this vital measure.

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