Changes from adopted text to adopted text

RemovedP9_TA(2023)0277

AddedP9_TA(2024)0089

Nature restoration

Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety

PE737.282

ChangedAmendments* adopted by the European Parliament onlegislative 12resolution Julyof 202327 February 2024 on the proposal for a regulation of the European Parliament and of the Council on nature restoration (COM(2022)0304 – C9-0208/2022 – 2022/0195(COD))

(Ordinary legislative procedure: first reading)

Removed[Amendment 18, unless otherwise indicated]

Change 1

AddedThe European Parliament,

RemovedAMENDMENTS BY THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT*

Added– having regard to the Commission proposal to Parliament and the Council (COM(2022)0304),

Removedto the Commission proposal

Added– having regard to Article 294(2) and Article 192(1) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, pursuant to which the Commission submitted the proposal to Parliament (C90208/2022),

Removed---------------------------------------------------------

Added– having regard to Article 294(3) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

RemovedREGULATION OF THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND OF THE COUNCIL

Added– having regard to the reasoned opinion submitted, within the framework of Protocol No 2 on the application of the principles of subsidiarity and proportionality, by the Swedish Parliament, asserting that the draft legislative act does not comply with the principle of subsidiarity,

Removedon nature restoration

Added– having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee of 25 January 2023,

Added– having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions of 9 February 2023,

Added– having regard to the provisional agreement approved by the committee responsible under Rule 74(4) of its Rules of Procedure and the undertaking given by the Council representative by letter of 22 November 2023 to approve that position, in accordance with Article 294(4) of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union,

Added– having regard to Rule 59 of its Rules of Procedure,

Added– having regard to the opinions of the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development and the Committee on Fisheries,

Added– having regard to the report of the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (A9-0220/2023),

Added1. Adopts its position at first reading hereinafter set out;

Added2. Takes note of the statement by the Commission annexed to this resolution;

Added3. Calls on the Commission to refer the matter to Parliament again if it replaces, substantially amends or intends to substantially amend its proposal;

Added4. Instructs its President to forward its position to the Council, the Commission and the national parliaments.

AddedP9_TC1-COD(2022)0195

AddedPosition of the European Parliament adopted at first reading on 27 February 2024 with a view to the adoption of Regulation (EU) 2024/… of the European Parliament and of the Council on nature restoration and amending Regulation (EU) 2022/869

▸9 unchanged paragraphs

(Text with EEA relevance)

THE EUROPEAN PARLIAMENT AND THE COUNCIL OF THE EUROPEAN UNION,

Having regard to the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union, and in particular Article 192(1) thereof,

Having regard to the proposal from the European Commission,

After transmission of the draft legislative act to the national parliaments,

Having regard to the opinion of the European Economic and Social Committee,

Having regard to the opinion of the Committee of the Regions,

Acting in accordance with the ordinary legislative procedure,

Whereas:

Change 2

Changed(1) It is necessary to lay down rules at Union level on the restoration of ecosystems to ensure the recovery toof biodiverse and resilient nature across the Union territory. Restoring ecosystems also contributes to the UnionUnion’s climate change mitigation and climate change adaptation objectives.

Change 3

Changed(2) The communication of the Commission of 11 December 2019 entitled ‘The European Green DealDeal’ has(the set‘European Green Deal’) sets out an ambitious roadmap to transform the Union into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, aiming to protect, conserve and enhance the Union’s natural capital, and to protect the health and well-being of citizens from environment-related risks and impacts. As part of the European Green Deal, the communication of the Commission hasof adopted20 anMay 2020 entitled ‘EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2023 Bringing nature back into our lives’ sets out the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030.

Change 4

Changed(3) The Union and its Member States,States asare parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity, approved byDiversity. CouncilAs Decisionsuch, 93/626/EEC,they are committed to the long-term strategic visionvision, adopted byat the tenth meeting of the Conference of the Parties into that Convention on 18-29 October 2010 by Decision X/2 Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-20202011-2020, that, by 2050, biodiversity is to be valued, conserved, restored and wisely used, maintaining ecosystem services, sustaining a healthy planet and delivering benefits essential for all people.

Change 5

Changed(4) The Convention onGlobal BiologicalBiodiversity DiversityFramework, agreedadopted at COPthe 15fifteenth inmeeting Decemberof 2022,the Conference of the GlobalParties Biodiversityto Frameworkthe thatConvention on Biological Diversity on 7-19 December 2022, sets out action-oriented global targets for urgent action over the decade to 20302030. Target 1 is to ensure that all areas are under participatory, integrated and biodiversity inclusive spatial planning and/or effective management processes addressing land and sea use change; to bring the loss of areas of high biodiversity importance, including ecosystems of high ecological integrity, close to zero by 2030 while respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities, as set out in the United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous PeoplesPeoples. (UNDRIP);Target 2 is to ensure thatthat, by 20302030, at least 30 per cent% of areas of degraded terrestrial, inland water, and marine and coastal ecosystems are under effective restoration, in order to enhance biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, ecological integrity and connectivity;connectivity. Target 11 is to restore, maintain and enhance nature’s contributions to people, including ecosystem functions and services, such as the regulation of air, water and climate, soil health, pollination and reduction of disease risk, as well as protection from natural hazards and disasters, through nature-based solutions and/or ecosystem-based approaches for the benefit of all people and nature. The Global Biodiversity Framework will enable progress towards the achievement of the outcome-oriented goals for 2050.

(5) The UN Sustainable Development Goals, in particular goals 14.2, 15.1, 15.2 and 15.3, refer to the need to ensure the conservation, restoration and sustainable use of terrestrial and inland freshwater ecosystems and their services, in particular forests, wetlands, mountains and drylands.

Change 6

Changed(6) The United Nations General Assembly, inIn aits resolution of 1 March 2019, the UN General Assembly proclaimed 2021–2030 as the UN decade on ecosystem restoration, with the aim of supporting and scaling-up efforts to prevent, halt and reverse the degradation of ecosystems worldwide and raise awareness of the importance of ecosystem restoration.

Change 7

Changed(7) The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 aims to ensure that Europe’s biodiversity will be put on the path to recovery by 2030 for the benefitsbenefit of people, the planet, the climate and our economy. It sets out an ambitious EU natureNature restorationRestoration planPlan with a number of key commitments, including a commitment to put forward a proposal for legally binding EU nature restoration targets to restore degraded ecosystems, in particular those with the most potential to capture and store carbon, and to prevent and reduce the impact of natural disasters.

Change 8

Changed(8) In its resolution of 9 June 2021,2021 on the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, the European Parliament strongly welcomed the commitment to draw up a legislative proposal with binding nature restoration targets, and furthermore considered that in addition to an overall restoration target, ecosystem-, habitat- and species-specific restoration targets should be included, covering forests, grasslands, wetlands, peatlands, pollinators, free-flowing rivers, coastal areas and marine ecosystems.

Change 9

Changed(9) In its conclusions of 23 October 2020, the Council acknowledged that preventing further decline of the current state of biodiversity and nature will be essential, but not sufficient to bring nature back into our lives. The Council reaffirmed that more ambition on nature restoration is neededneeded, as proposed withby the new EU Nature Restoration Plan, which includes measures to protect and restore biodiversity beyond protected areas. The Council also stated that it awaited a proposal for legally binding nature restoration targets, subject to an impact assessment.

Change 10

Changed(10) The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 sets out a commitment to legally protect a minimum of 30 % of the land, including inland waters, and 30 % of the sea in the Union, of which at least one third should be under strict protection, including all remaining primary and old-growth forests. The criteria and guidance for the designation of additional protected areas by Member States (the ‘Criteria and guidance’),Guidance’), developed by the Commission in 2022, in cooperation with Member States and stakeholders, highlight that if the restored areas comply or are expected to comply, once restoration produces its full effect, with the criteria for protected areas, those restored areas should also contribute towards the Union targets on protected areas. The Criteria and guidanceGuidance also highlight that protected areas can provide an important contribution to the restoration targets in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, by creating the conditions for restoration efforts to be successful. This is particularly the case for areas which can recover naturally by stopping or limiting some of the pressures from human activities. Placing such areas, including in the marine environment, under strict protection, will, in some cases, be sufficient to lead to the recovery of the natural values they host. Moreover, it is emphasised in the Criteria and guidanceGuidance that all Member States are expected to contribute towards reachingmeeting the Union targets on protected areas set out in the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, to an extent that is proportionate to the natural values they host and to the potential they have for nature restoration.

Change 11

Changed(11) The EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030 sets out a target toof ensureensuring that there is no deterioration in conservation trends or in the status of protected habitats and species and that at least 30 % of species and habitats not currently in favourable status will fall into that category or show a strong positive trend towards falling into that category by 2030. The guidance developed by the Commission in cooperation with Member States and stakeholders to support the achievement ofmeeting these targets highlights that maintenance and restoration efforts are likely to be required for most of those habitats and species, either by halting their current negative trends by 2030 or by maintaining current stable or improving trends, or by preventing the decline of habitats and species with a favourable conservation status. TheThat guidance further emphasises that those restoration efforts primarily need to be planned, implemented and coordinated at national or regional levelslevel and that, in selecting and prioritising the species and habitats to be improved by 2030, synergies with other Union and international targets, in particular environmental or climate policy targets, are to be sought.

Change 12

Changed(12) The Commission’s StateReport on the state of Naturenature Reportin fromthe European Union of 15 October 2020 (the ‘2020 State of Nature Report’) noted that the Union has not yet managed to stem the decline of protected habitat types and species whose conservation is of concern to the Union. That decline is caused mostly by the abandonment of extensive agriculture, intensifying management practices, the modification of hydrological regimes, urbanisation and pollution as well as unsustainable forestry activities and species exploitation. Furthermore, invasive alien species and climate change represent major and growing threats to native Union florafauna and fauna.flora.

Change 13

Changed(12a)(13) The Commission's Trade Policy Review - An Open, Sustainable and Assertive Trade Policy - states that the European Green Deal iswill thelead EU’sto newa growthprogressive strategyand thatprofound willtransformation beof the driving forceeconomy behindof ourthe competitivenessUnion and will lead to a progressive but profound transformation ofits ourMember economies,States, which in turn will have a strong bearing on tradethe patterns,Union’s whileexternal theaction. EU’sIt vastis networkimportant ofthat bilateralthe Union uses its trade agreementspolicy isand anextensive essentialnetwork platformof trade agreements to engage with our partners on climate change and biodiversity andthe thereforeprotection demandsof the introductionenvironment ofand ‘mirror’biodiversity measures,also inglobally, linewhile withpromoting WTOa rules.level [Oralplaying amendment]field.

(14) It is appropriate to set an overarching objective for ecosystem restoration to foster economic and societal transformation, the creation of high-quality jobs and sustainable growth. Biodiverse ecosystems such as wetland, freshwater, forest as well as agricultural, sparsely vegetated, marine, coastal and urban ecosystems deliver, if in good condition, a range of essential ecosystem services, and the benefits of restoring degraded ecosystems to good condition in all land and sea areas far outweigh the costs of restoration. Those services contribute to a broad range of socio-economic benefits, depending on the economic, social, cultural, regional and local characteristics.

Change 14

Changed(14)(15) The United NationsUN Statistical Commission adopted the System of Environmental Economic Accounting - Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA EA) at its 52nd session in March 2021. SEEA EA constitutes an integrated and comprehensive statistical framework for organising data about habitats and landscapes, measuring the extent, condition and services of ecosystems, tracking changes in ecosystem assets, and linking thisthat information to economic and other human activity.

Change 15

Changed(15)(16) Securing biodiverse ecosystems and tackling climate change are intrinsically linked.interlinked. Nature and nature-based solutions, including natural carbon stocks and sinks, are fundamental for fighting the climate crisis. At the same time, the climate crisis is already a driver of terrestrial and marine ecosystem change, and the Union mustneeds to prepare for the increasing intensity, frequency and pervasiveness of its effects. The Special Report of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) on the impacts of global warming of 1.5°C pointed out that some impacts may be long-lasting or irreversible. The Sixth IPCC Sixth Assessment Report states that restoring ecosystems will be fundamental in helping to combat climate change and also in reducing risks to food security. The Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) in its 2019 Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services considered climate change a key driver of change in nature, and it expected its impacts of climate change to increase over the coming decades, in some cases surpassing the impact of other drivers of ecosystem change such as changed land and sea use.

Change 16

Changed(16)(17) Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 of the European Parliament and of the Council sets out a binding objective of climate neutrality in the Union by 2050 and negative emissions thereafter, and to prioritise swift and predictable emission reductions and, at the same time, enhance removals by natural sinks. The restoration of ecosystems can make an important contribution to maintaining, managing and enhancing natural sinks and to increasing biodiversity while fighting climate change. Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 also requires relevant Union institutions and the Member States to ensure continuous progress in enhancing adaptive capacity, strengthening resilience and reducing vulnerability to climate change. It also requires that Member States to integrate adaptation in all policy areas and promote ecosystem-based adaptation and nature-based solutions. Nature-based solutions are solutions that are inspired and ecosystem-basedsupported adaptation.by nature, that are cost-effective, and that simultaneously provide environmental, social and economic benefits and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more, and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient and systemic interventions. Nature-based solutions need to therefore benefit biodiversity and support the delivery of a range of ecosystem services.

Change 17

Changed(17)(18) The Commission’s Communicationcommunication onof adaptationthe toCommission climateof change24 fromFebruary 2021 entitled ‘Forging a climate-resilient Europe - the new EU Strategy on Adaptation to Climate Change’ emphasises the need to promote nature-based solutions and recognises that cost-effective adaptation to climate change can be achieved by protecting and restoring wetlands and peatlands as well as coastal and marine ecosystems, by developing urban green spaces and installing green roofs and walls and by promoting and sustainably managing forests and farmland. Having a greater number of biodiverse ecosystems leads to a higher resilience to climate change and provides more effective forms of disaster reduction and prevention.

Change 18

Changed(18)(19) Union climate policy is being revised in order to follow the pathway proposedset out in Regulation (EU) 2021/1119 to reduce net greenhouse gas emissions (emissions after deduction of removals) by at least 55 % by 2030 compared to 1990. In1990 particular,levels theby proposal2030. forIn aparticular, Regulation (EU) 2023/839 of the European Parliament and of the Council amending Regulations (EU) 2018/841 and (EU) 2018/1999 aims to strengthen the contribution of the land sector to the overall climate ambition for 2030 and aligns the objectives as regardsregarding accounting of emissions and removals from the land use, land use change and forestry (‘LULUCF’)(LULUCF) sector with related policy initiatives on biodiversity. That proposalRegulation emphasises the need for the protection and enhancement of nature-based carbon removals, for the improvement of the resilience of ecosystems to climate change, for the restoration of degraded land and ecosystems, and for rewetting peatlands. It further aims to improve the monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emissions and removals of land subject to protection and restoration. In thisthat context, it is important that ecosystems in all land categories, including forests, grasslands, croplands and wetlands, are in good condition in order to be able to effectively capture and store carbon.carbon effectively.

Change 19

Changed(19)(20) Geo-politicalAs indicated by the communication of the Commission of 23 March 2022 entitled ‘Safeguarding food security and reinforcing the resilience of food systems’, geo-political developments have further underlined the need to safeguard the resilience of food systems. Evidence shows that restoring agro-ecosystems has positive impacts on food productivity in the long-term, and that the restoration of nature acts as an insurance policy to ensure the EU’sUnion’s long-term sustainability and resilience.

Change 20

Changed(20)(21) In the final report of the Conference on the Future of Europe,Europe of May 2022, citizens call on the Union to protect and restore biodiversity, the landscape and oceans, eliminate pollution and to foster knowledge, awareness, education,education and dialogues on environment, climate change, energy use, and sustainability.