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EU’s new landmark regulation on nature restoration injects excitement at the ecological restoration conference

Author: Murat Gungor   |   September 12, 2024

A woman reading a brochure at the G20 Land Restoration Initiative stand at the 14th European Conference on Ecological Restoration.

Georgina Bwango of UNCCD speaks to one of the delegates at SERE.

UNCCD’s G20 Land Initiative was a gold sponsor at the 14th European Conference on Ecological Restoration, organized by the Society for Ecological Restoration (SERE), in Tartu, Estonia. It was a great opportunity to connect with professionals working in land restoration to drive together the agenda forward.

There was a lot of excitement around EU’s recently passed Nature Restoration Regulation with people in the field being hopeful in upscaling their efforts.

The regulation sets the course for Member States for decades to come. EU members agreed to restore at least 20% of its ecosystems by 2030, and all of them by 2050.

The main aims of the Regulation are:

  1. Sustained recovery of ecosystems across EU’s lands and seas, and
  2. Addressing climate change by mitigation, adaptation and land degradation neutrality.

In this recent opinion piece by Deirdre Nagle and David Foy, the lawyers share in simple  language what the new regulation is trying to achieve, while pointing out challenges along the way.

View the EU nature law on EUR-Lex.