Source: EU passes new nature law
Last week, the European Union’s member nations committed to restoring 20% of their degraded natural land and marine area. Spanning a colossal 1.6 million square miles, from the icy Arctic Circle to the balmy Mediterranean Sea, this measure represents an important step towards a more sustainable and resilient planet.
The new EU nature restoration law, which will be finalized in the coming months, follows the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework signed by 190 nations last December. Europe’s initiative is one of the first tangible actions driven by this international commitment, and it comes while the region is wrestling with unprecedented heat, drought, and flooding fueled by climate change.
Last summer, extreme heat claimed more than 61,000 lives across the EU, while the worst flooding in over a century displaced another 30,000 people in Northern Italy. This week, southern Europe is bracing for another sweltering heatwave, with temperatures predicted to hit a blistering 48C (almost 120F) in parts of Italy and Spain.
The EU’s new law aims to do more than just safeguard existing species and ecosystems — it calls for restoring polluted and depleted forests, wetlands, fields, rivers, lakes, and oceans. This is a win-win, as investing in nature tackles both the climate and the biodiversity crises.
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