European Environmentalists Celebrate Approval of the Nature Restoration Law
Rally in support of the Nature Restoration Law, 2024. Photo: X/ @Belga_English
June 17, 2024 Hour: 8:25 am
This law comes at a critical time when the European continent is facing floods, droughts, and fires.
On Monday, environmental organizations and activists celebrated the last-minute adoption of the Nature Restoration Law, which had become a symbol of the ecological struggle in the European Union.
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“This day will go down in history as a turning point for nature and society,” said environmental organizations such as BirdLife, ClientEarth, the European Environmental Bureau, and WWF in a joint statement.
The EU Council definitively adopted the regulation that the European Parliament had already approved in February. The adoption of the Nature Restoration Law was made possible by Austria’s favorable vote, which allowed for achieving the necessary qualified majority, equivalent to 66 percent of the EU population.
Greenpeace, Friends of the Earth, and Ecologists in Action pointed out that the regulatory framework “represents a historic opportunity to restore nature in Europe at a critical time when the continent is facing floods, droughts, and fires.”
The environmental platform Sea at Risk celebrated the “wonderful news for marine ecosystems” represented by the adoption of the law, which should “mark the beginning of a new European political cycle focused on advancing the ocean.”
“Our nature now has the chance to recover, which is something it urgently needs,” said Frans Timmermans, the Dutchman who drafted the regulation and was Vice President of the European Commission for the Green Deal until a year ago.
And the outgoing chair of the European Parliament’s Environment Committee, French liberal Pascal Canfin, said he was “delighted” with the adoption of a law that will help the EU better adapt to the impact of climate change.
“Contrary to the caricature that has sometimes been made of it, this law is not a threat to our food security. Additional flexibilities have been incorporated into the text to protect the agricultural sector,” he said.
Source: EFE
teleSUR/ JF
