MEPs have been accused of causing a “culture war against nature” after having opposed to the EU’s biodiversity restoration law.
The nature restoration law, announced last June by the European Commission, revealed proposals for legally binding targets for member states to restore wildlife on land, in rivers and the sea. It also proposed a crackdown on chemical pesticides in order to reverse the catastrophic loss of wildlife on the continent.
However, the law may be abandoned because of the opposition from fisheries and agriculture committees, forestry lobbying groups and some member states, which voted to reject the nature restoration legislation.
The law is a fundamental part of EU’s negotiating position at Cop15 in Montreal last year, where the world agreed to protect 30% of the planet for nature. In fact, the aim of the nature law is to reverse the decline of pollinating insects and restore forests, marine areas and other ecosystems and improve Europe’s resilience to climatic shocks as the planet warms.
The EU’s environment commissioner said in an interview with the Guardian that reject the law would send a dangerous signal to the world and undermine climate and biodiversity targets.
«With this rejection, the majority of MEPs in the agri committee are failing all citizens, including farmers» said Sabien Leemans, a senior biodiversity policy officer at WWF Europe. «The science is clear that nature restoration will increase our resilience to such extreme weather events and support long-term food security. Meanwhile, the agri committee is rejecting the legal proposal to restore nature. It is a totally irresponsible attitude that puts everyone’s livelihoods at risk, first and foremost the ones of farmers».
However, EU environment ministers will meet next month in Brussels in order to find a common position on the proposals.
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