On Tuesday, February 27, the European Parliament adopted a new nature protection law aimed at restoring 20% of land and EU marines by 2030 and all degraded ecosystems by 2050.
Most members of the European Parliament supported the bill, despite protesting farmers against the Green Course. The next step is to vote in the EU Council.
This law aims to restore degraded ecosystems in all Member States, facilitating the achievement of EU climate goals, biodiversity and increasing food safety.
Member States are obliged to restore at least 30% of different territories, such as forests, meadows, swamps, rivers, lakes and coral reefs, by 2030, increasing this figure to 60% by 2040 and to 90% by 2050. In order to improve biodiversity in the EU agricultural ecosystems, it is necessary to make progress in two of the following three indicators: the index of meadow butterflies, the proportion of agricultural land with high variety of landscape features and organic carbon reserves in soils.
Farmers' initiative is also important to increase the number of birds in agricultural land, as they are important indicators of the overall biodiversity.
To achieve the restoration of nature in the EU, it is also necessary to actively plant trees, drain swamps and restore rivers to their natural state.
"Since the restoration of drained peatlands is one of the most effective measures to reduce emissions in agriculture, EU countries should restore at least 30% of such peatlands by 2030, 40% by 2040 and 50% by 2050," said the deputy of the European Parliament Sesar Luen.
According to the proposal of the European Parliament, the law allows to suspend the achievement of these goals if they significantly increase the number of land suitable for growing agricultural products.
