Posted on May, 26 2021

What is happening?

On 27-28 May, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI) will vote on its draft own-initiative report on the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. WWF welcomed the Strategy last year as a potential game-changer for EU nature policy. Following Member States’ political endorsement last October, the Parliament must express strong support for the Strategy and call for its quick and effective implementation and increased ambition.

Why does it matter?

Europe’s nature is in a dire state, and it urgently requires stronger protection – but even this won’t be enough to tip the scale of biodiversity loss. One of the key elements of the Biodiversity Strategy to 2030 is the commitment by the European Commission to propose legally binding restoration targets by the end of this year – MEPs need to endorse this. Large-scale restoration of natural ecosystems on land and at sea [1] will not only contribute to halting biodiversity loss, but it is also critical to climate change mitigation and adaptation, while providing huge benefits for people’s health and wellbeing. WWF and 19 other NGOs have made recommendations on the key elements for the nature restoration law.

In parallel, the European Commission is also expected to publish the new EU Forest Strategy in the coming months. The Forest Strategy should secure the health and resilience of Europe’s forests by strengthening forest protection, supporting the implementation of legally binding forest restoration and ensuring multi-functional forest management by integrating biodiversity as a core principle. It is key that MEPs strongly support this message, especially given the recent flawed decision on forestry and bioenergy in the taxonomy regulation.
 

Sabien Leemans, Senior Biodiversity Policy Officer at the WWF European Policy Office, said:
“Widespread and unambiguous support by the ENVI committee in favour of ambitious legally binding nature restoration targets will send a strong signal as the European Commission mulls over its legal proposal. Members of the European Parliament need to show that they’re listening to the calls of EU citizens and that they are ready to defend strong EU action against the pressure from industry lobbyists. Forests, in particular, are facing immense pressure, and yet, if we let them mature and recover old-growth, they will help us tackle the biodiversity and climate crises simultaneously.” 

What does WWF want to see?

Overall, the compromise amendments appear to strengthen the text of the draft report. We are calling, in particular, for the passing of those related to the legally binding nature restoration targets and the protected area targets (including the strict protection of all remaining old-growth and primary forests).

The alternative compromise amendments concerning forests, introduced at the last minute by the European Conservatives and Reformists (ECR) and the European People’s Party (EPP), would weaken the draft report by, for example, making targets for the restoration of forest ecosystems non-binding, and should not be supported.

What’s more, MEPs must call for specific binding targets for the restoration and subsequent protection of forest ecosystems and vote to revise the EU rules on the use of biomass for energy production. Biomass rules must be aligned with the objectives of the Biodiversity Strategy and the Climate Law in the framework of the Renewable Energy Directive and the delegated acts under the Taxonomy regulation. In practice, this means ending incentives for the burning of trees and crops for energy.

What are the next steps?

The draft report will be voted on in plenary on 8 June. A positive outcome of this vote will be key to the co-decision process on the nature restoration law, which will kick off next year, following the European Commission’s expected publication of the law this December.

 

For further information:

Sabien Leemans
sleemans@wwf.eu
Senior Biodiversity Policy Officer
 
Bartosz Brzezinski
bbrzezinski@wwf.eu
Communications Officer for Biodiversity & Agriculture
Tel. +32 484 28 15 10
 

Note to editors:
[1] Including forests, peatlands, wetlands, rivers, biodiversity-rich grasslands, coastal areas and marine ecosystems