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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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Photo by Gozha Net on Unsplash
Tractor
Press release |

CAP: Agreement falls far short of Green Deal goals

Negotiations were concluded on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the years 2023 to 2027. The agreement by representatives of the European Parliament, Council and Commission falls far short of the promises of the Green Deal to use less pesticides, protect the environment, climate and biodiversity and to promote organic farming. The …
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© Thomas Mounsey
Global Warming Metaphor Thomas Mounsey
Press release |

European Climate Law: Not enough to meet Paris climate targets

MEPs will vote on the first ever European Climate Law. The main tenet of the European Climate Law is the target to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 55% by 2030. This calculation, however, includes carbon sinks such as forests and wetlands. If these natural CO2 reservoirs are deducted, the climate target shrinks to only 52.8%. The climat…
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Forest/ CC0 timotheus-frobel
Forest/ CC0 timotheus-frobel
Opinion |

The EU must protect its forests, not destroy them

Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg Martin Häusling Ville Niinistö Marie Toussaint
Opinion by Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg & Martin Häusling & Ville Niinistö & Marie Toussaint
As the European Union is grappling to respond to the twin crises of climate and biodiversity breakdown, one thing has become clear: we need healthy forests to protect and restore nature and the global climate.
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Press release |

Greens/EFA call for binding legislation to protect nature

The European Parliament will debate the Environment Committee report on the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy for 2030. The report calls for a legally binding EU Biodiversity Law. A number of amendments have been tabled that threaten to weaken the report. The Greens/EFA call on all members of the Parliament to vote down these amendments, and to …
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Picture of environmental activists
Study |

Legal paradigm shifts for a new environmental law

With this study, the researchers show the importance of rethinking our law to ensure a rebalancing of the relationship between humans and nature. They propose, on the one hand, a reform of environmental criminal law at the national and European levels and the recognition of two offences: ecocide and the endangering of the safety of the pl…
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Credit : Lola Merce
Illustration of Amazon buring
Policy Paper |

A devastating impact on forests

Factsheet on EU-Mercosur trade agreement - There is deep concern among experts that the deal will increase deforestation in the Mercosur region. Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina are among the top ten countries with the highest deforestation rates. In Brazil, the deforestation of the Amazon rainforest has surged to a 12-year high in 2020
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Credit : Lola Merce
Biodiversity in jeopardy
Policy Paper |

A destructive deal for biodiversity

Factsheet on EU-Mercosur trade agreement - While the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) report rang an alarm bell in 2019 concerning the rapidly worsening state of biodiversity, this deal will only exacerbate the phenomenon further.
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dale-nibbe
Forest
Video |

Save our forests​

We all know that natural forests are indispensable and that we need to protect them in order to save nature and stop runaway climate change. We need a strong law to stop EU-driven deforestation all over the world.
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Opinion |

New GM technology has no place in sustainable farming

Benoît Biteau Martin Häusling
Opinion by Benoît Biteau & Martin Häusling
New report shows that new GM technology won’t solve the problems of industrial agriculture and will undermine nature, climate protection and the European Green Deal.
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Offshore wind farm / CC0 Nicholas Doherty
Offshore wind farm / CC0 Nicholas Doherty
Study |

Best practice in maritime spatial planning

With this study, we set out to demystify the process behind planning, developing and conservation for our seas and oceans. In the coming years, we will be increasingly familiar with the process of Maritime Spatial Planning as we look to simultaneously harness the energy of the winds and the seas and protect our marine environment from ove…