NATURE RESTORATION LAW - INTERNATIONAL

News: Why farmers are revolting against EU’s historic nature restoration law

 

What's in the news?

       After the European Parliament accepted a key nature restoration law with a razor-thin majority, a backlash is expected against plans to protect vast swaths of threatened nature.

 

Key features of Nature Restoration Law:

       As agreed in the European Council in June, EU member states will “put in place restoration measures that bring at least 30 percent of habitats in terrestrial, coastal, freshwater and marine ecosystems that are not in good condition, into good condition by 2030.

       The bill allows for 30 percent of all former peatlands currently exploited for agriculture to be restored and partially shifted to other use by the end of the decade, a figure rising to 70 percent by 2050.

 

Go back to basics:

Peatland:

       Peatland, which is a type of wetland, forms over thousands of years from the remains of dead plants, storing more carbon than any other ecosystem.

       Across Europe, 7 percent of the continent’s greenhouse gas emissions are the result of drained peatlands and wetlands.

       In Germany, the amount of degraded peatlands is estimated to be as high as 90 percent.