EU Nature Restoration Law

The EU Nature Restoration Law (Regulation (EU) 2024/1991) is a landmark regulation designed to restore degraded terrestrial, marine, coastal, freshwater, and urban ecosystems across the EU on a long-term, sustainable basis, halt biodiversity loss, and strongly support the EU's climate adaptation and mitigation goals. As a central pillar of the European Green Deal and the EU Biodiversity Strategy for 2030, it received final approval from the Council of the EU on June 17, 2024, was published in the Official Journal on July 29, 2024, and entered into force on August 18, 2024. It is the first legally binding, comprehensive EU-wide law on nature restoration.

The regulation requires member states to implement restoration measures across at least 20% of the EU's land and sea area by 2030, extending measures to all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. Specific targets include restoring the condition of degraded habitats — such as forests, grasslands, wetlands, and rivers — by 30% by 2030, 60% by 2040, and 90% by 2050. Additional targets cover maintaining and expanding urban green space and tree canopy cover, reversing the decline in pollinator populations (such as bees and butterflies), and restoring at least 25,000 kilometers of rivers to a free-flowing, barrier-free state by 2030. Each member state is required to draft and submit a National Restoration Plan detailing concrete measures within two years of the regulation's entry into force.