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Bring back nature

Healthy ecosystems

Our ecosystems are in poor health. Climate change is but one reason, other drivers are harmful practices in our agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors.

We need to change these practices to protect and restore nature.

EU action to bring back nature

We are losing nature faster than ever. Scientists believe that we are living through the sixth mass extinction, and first mass extinction since humans occupied the Earth.

But we depend on nature. The planet can survive mass extinction, we cannot.

Luckily, nature has an incredible capacity to bounce back. We know how to protect and restore nature. We also know how to reconcile nature protection and our needs as humans. We need to act strongly, and now!

Help us to bring back nature

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OUR KEY DEMANDS

    • Protect at least 30 percent of the EU’s land and sea area, and set aside at least 10 percent as strictly protected areas.
    • Restore 30 percent of drained wetlands, regardless of whether they have been drained for agricultural production, forests or peat extraction.
    • Promote ecological forestry practices. Such approaches are already practised on an estimated 22 to 30 percent of the EU’s forested area.
    • Stop destructive fishing practices in EU-protected areas. The EU can no longer tolerate practices like bottom trawling, scraping all sea life from the bottom of the seabed, in its marine protected areas.

OUR CAMPAIGN ACTIVITIES

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farmland©nicole-harrington
farmland©nicole-harrington
Press release |

Dark day for consumers, farmers and the environment

The Appeals Committee of the Standing Committee on Plants, Animals, Food and Feed has today approved the European Commission's proposal to renew glyphosate’s licence for five years. Greens/EFA food safety spokesperson Bart Staes comments.
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Hayden (CC BY 2.0)
Palm Oil
Press release |

European Parliament demands an end to use of palm oil as a biofuel

The European Parliament’s Environment Committee (ENVI) has backed a report from Greens/EFA MEP Bas Eickhout that would see palm oil biofuels phased out in the EU from 2021. The report forms a part of the revision to the Renewable Energy Directive.
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Video |

Agroecology explained to children

Our current food and agricultural system isn't sustainable. Increasingly we get locked in a global production model with high social and environmental costs, mainly in the form of a rapid degradation of biodiversity. There is an urgent need to rethink the global food system. Agroecology is the path towards a more sustainable agricultural …
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Press release |

Greens/EFA nominee Aura Lolita Chávez on shortlist

The European Parliament’s foreign affairs and development committees have today agreed on the shortlist for the Sakharov Prize for Freedom of Thought for 2017.
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© enviromantic
Plastic bag, marine litter
Press release |

Clear consensus on the need to end planned obsolescence

The European Parliament has adopted an own-initiative report from Pascal Durand aimed at extending the life of products to the benefit of consumers and businesses, their employees and the environment.
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©jeremy ricketts
deforestation
Press release |

MEPs call for stricter rules on palm oil

For the first time, Members of the European Parliament have called for stricter rules on the import of palm oil. For the Greens/EFA group, this represents a step forward on how to protect the world’s rainforests from the devastation caused by reckless palm oil production.
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Video |

Palm oil and deforestation of rainforests

The European Parliament is showing the way forward on how to help protect the world’s rainforests from the devastation currently being caused by reckless palm oil production
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Oregon Department of Agriculture (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0)
Plane spraying field
Press release |

ECHA opinion doesn't answer all the questions on glyphosate

There remain a range of reasons as to why glyphosate is at odds with a healthy and sustainable agriculture. Not only does the chemical target the weeds it is supposed to kill, but it also harms surrounding plants and wildlife, making it a real threat to biodiversity. The issue of pesticide-resistant crops also poses increasing problems fo…
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farmland©nicole-harrington
farmland©nicole-harrington
Press release |

Commission proposal would do little for accountability or public health

The European Commission has published its long-awaited proposal for the reform of the comitology process, used to approve or renew products, such as GMOs and pesticides.
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©annie-spratt
trees©annie-spratt
Press release |

Nature Directives

Following an orientation debate held today by the College of Commissioners, the European Commission has confirmed it will develop an Action Plan to improve implementation of the Birds and Habitats Directives (Nature Directives) and their coherence with other EU policies. The Greens/EFA group &nda...