JOIN THE CAMPAIGN

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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Credit picture ESA
Satellite picture of Amazon rainforest
Study |

Tracking down products linked to deforestation

In this report, Kayrros, a geospatial analytics company from France, argues that satellite-based remote sensing technologies can support both operators and competent authorities in the implementation of the upcoming EU legislation on deforestation-free products. The operating costs of remote sensing technologies are expected to be managea…
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Deforestation illegal-logging-amazon-brazil
Deforestation illegal-logging-amazon-brazil
Event |

Imported deforestation - webinar

Watch our webinar on how to end imported deforestation. The rate of global deforestation remains alarmingly high. The EU must put in place robust regulations to eliminate its outsized deforestation footprint!
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Picture credit : Victor Moriyama
Aerial view of burnt Cerrado
Study |

Proposed EU regulation on deforestation and forest degradation

Our case study on EU soy and beef imports from South America shows that this narrow focus on protecting FAO “forests” could increase pressure on other precious ecosystems. As proposed, the legislation would leave three quarters of the Cerrado (79 million hectares) and a third of the Gran Chaco (32 million hectares) unprotected.
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GreensEFA
help this tiny turtle video thumbnail
Video |

Help this tiny turtle - stop the pollution of our oceans!

This is a tiny turtle. He wants to grow big one day and have tiny turtles of his own. But it’s not going to be easy. His home is being destroyed: the ocean.
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CC0 Maksym Diachenko
Sunset over the Carpathian Mountains, Ukraine
Opinion |

A law to heal our forests: why we need to restore nature now

Ville Niinistö Jutta Paulus
Opinion by Ville Niinistö & Jutta Paulus
The European Commission proposed a new EU Nature Restoration Law to protect nature and ecosystems. But the new law is under attack. Read why here.
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dale-nibbe
Picture of forest
Letter |

Call for a strong and ambitious EU Regulation on nature protection

Given the recent developments and the interventions of several stakeholders, the undersigned MEPs are reiterating their call for a strong and ambitious EU Regulation on nature restoration. They welcome the Commission’s efforts to establish legally binding obligations on EU member states, spanning the period until 2050. In their view, thes…
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CC Heine Christiansen
Bee Red Flower
Policy Paper |

EU nature restoration law

The biodiversity crisis is upon us. One million species are threatened with extinction and the vast majority will be affected within the current human generation. A global target for the restoration of degraded ecosystems is envisaged to be adopted at the COP15 international conference on biodiversity in Kunming in 2022. To achieve the in…
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Press release |

Commission proposal welcome but more needed to protect ecosystems & human rights

The Commission published its legislative proposal on reducing the risks of deforestation and forest degradation associated with all products on the EU market. The proposal is part of the package on soil, waste shipment and deforestation and it will require companies to ensure that their products sold in the EU do not come from areas where…
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Opinion |

New EU deforestation law could fail to protect our precious ecosystems

Anna Cavazzini Rosa D’Amato Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg Heidi Hautala Tilly Metz Ville Niinistö Grace O'Sullivan Marie Toussaint
Opinion by Anna Cavazzini & Rosa D’Amato & Anna Deparnay-Grunenberg & Heidi Hautala & Tilly Metz & Ville Niinistö & Grace O'Sullivan & Marie Toussaint
The Commission just adopted a proposal to stop deforestation. But this new deforestation law is all bark and no bite. It continues to threaten biodiversity and ecosystems worldwide, and EU products continue to be complicit in environmental destruction.
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Press release |

European Parliament votes to invest in climate, biodiversity and research

Today, Members of the European Parliament have just voted in favour of greater climate protection, biodiversity and research to be part of the EU budget 2022. The Greens/EFA group have increased the budget by more than 1.64 billion, including 430 million euros for climate protection and biodiversity, 450 million increase for research and …