Plans by the EU to restore biodiversity on land and in the sea are in jeopardy after the largest political group in the European Parliament demanded that the measures be scrapped and revised.
50-50 Outcome
On the eve of a vote on the Nature Restoration Law (NRL) package, the head of the center-right European People's Party (EPP) stated the outcome was "50-50" with a chance that additional people would join their opposition on Thursday, as reported by The Guardian.
Pascal Canfin, the chair of the environment committee, asked colleagues to support the bill on Wednesday night, charging the EPP with spreading "fake news" about food production.
The plans aim to safeguard all threatened ecosystems by 2050 through legally bound targets, including rivers, oceans, peat bogs, and indigenous forests.
Inger Andersen, the UN's top environmental official, asked MEPs to exercise leadership before the vote and keep the commitments the union made at Cop15 just six months ago. She criticized people who had made preserving biodiversity a topic for a culture war.
Read also: COP15 Biodiversity Summit Results in Agreement To Halt Decline of Wildlife and Ecosystems
A Bad Proposal?
Manfred Weber, the leader of the EPP, stated that his party's lawmakers supported climate change objectives but deemed the NRL to be "a bad proposal" that would lower food production on the continent.
Irish Green Party MEP Ciarán Cuffe expressed concern about a potential deeper EPP hostility to climate emergency measures while guiding parallel proposals on the restoration of energy-inefficient buildings through parliament.
Cuffe said the 12-volume, 5,689-page impact assessment put the economic benefits of restoring nature at €180bn (£154bn), as opposed to the cost of the measures, which have been put at €154bn. Weber claimed the proposals would harm Europe's food production by sequestering land for rewilding and other projects.
Along with the Greens, the World Wildlife Fund has claimed that boosting biodiversity, including bees and other pollinators, actually enhances food output.
The votes in the 84-member committee were split 42:42 on Wednesday, according to German MEP Peter Liese, the EPP's spokesperson on the environment, who is also one of those 22.
He cited the lack of a definite definition of "degraded" land or waterways by the European Commission as one of the primary problems.
According to him, it could necessitate the conversion of 25,000 kilometers of European rivers to wilderness under its current garb, which would have an effect on hydroelectric plant development and operation.
Virginijus Sinkeviius, the EU's environment commissioner, issued a warning last month that disobeying the legislation would send "a dangerous, negative signal to the world." The NRL is a component of the European Green Deal, along with separate measures to lower pesticide use and regulations pertaining to climate change.
Related article: MEPs Face Backlash for 'Culture War Against Nature' as They Oppose Crucial Restoration Law
