Mr. Niall Curley:

I thank the committee for inviting me to participate and give evidence. The nature restoration law proposal was released on 22 June 2022 alongside the sustainable use of pesticide regulation. Together they formed the nature package, as it was dubbed by the European Commission, and were brought forward in connection with the goals of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030.

COPA-COGECA, the organisation I represent, has continually supported the European Union’s objectives of protecting, conserving and restoring our natural environment for the future of our planet, especially due to the role farmers and forest-owners can and already play for nature. In times of war, which we are in, the focus on food security becomes an aspect of critical importance. It is essential to take the necessary steps to ensure food supplies continue reaching those most affected, in Ukraine and globally. The cumulative impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic, the energy price hikes, and the Russian invasion of Ukraine have profound and long-lasting effects not only in the EU but also elsewhere in the world. With Covid-19 and the war between Russia and Ukraine this issue has re-emerged as a threat that can radically shake our society. Given the current politically precarious situation presented by the war in Ukraine, the risk of food shortages and unaffordable prices for food in numerous countries, the EU should put the objective of food, energy and raw material security at the forefront.

The main tenets of the nature restoration law are as follows. The European Union will enact legally binding targets upon member states up until the year 2050. The first target is for the entire EU to have 20% of all EU land and sea covered with restoration measures by 2030. The more comprehensive targets are restoration measures across the EU encompassing those habitats and ecosystems which have been designated as in "bad" condition within the reasoning of the habitats directive from 1992. The aim is to achieve a "good" condition of these target habitats up to 30% by 2030, 60% by 2040 and 90% by 2050. Among these habitats are wetlands; grasslands; river, lake, alluvial and riparian habitats; forests; steppe, heath, and scrub habitats; and rocky and dune habitats. In order to aid in the fulfilment of these targets, the EU will have every member state create a national restoration plan, in the same guise as the CAP strategic plans each member state had to fulfil. However, these will have the exact details of specific restoration measures with time-specific deadlines up until the year 2050. Each plan must designate the exact amount of area that will be covered in each decade up until 2050, the estimate financing, the funding mechanisms behind the measures, and the identification of harmful subsidies that will inhibit the fulfilment of these targets.

Within this law, there is a variety of articles to be aware of. First, Articles 4 and 5 speak of the overall targets over all EU habitats covered within the habitats directive, with specific note made for the only cases where non-fulfilment of the targets are acceptable. Article 9 focuses on agricultural ecosystems and inherent in this are targets for the restoration of 70% of all EU agriculturally-drained peatland by 2050, with 30% of all EU peatland to be rewetted by that year. Article 16 focuses on the access to justice clause which is long enshrined in the Aarhus Convention. However, these targets are clearly unachievable at the current rate and this article allows anyone who fits the requirements to bring a state to court for nonfulfillment and failure of that state to fulfil the targets.

I would be happy to elaborate on all of the above in order to allow for a better understanding of the proposal. I have attached a PowerPoint presentation I hope members have had a chance to look at carefully, as it refers to the specific targets.

No matter how much I can explain this, it pales in comparison to reading the document as well as the 12 impact assessments and annexes that will pave the way for the future of nature across Europe.