"European countries hope healing forests, wetlands and oceans will help them meet their climate and biodiversity targets, and bolster food security."

"The European Union strengthened its environmental policies this week with adoption of a nature restoration law that member countries hope will help them meet climate and biodiversity targets set under the 2015 Paris Agreement and a global biodiversity agreement reached late last year.

The new measures go beyond simply preserving existing species and ecosystems. The law tasks the 27 EU member countries with finding ways to restore large tracts of damaged forests, wetlands and fields, as well as rivers, lakes and oceans, with an overall goal over the next few decades of restoring 30 percent of damaged ecosystems in the EU region, which spans 1.6 million square miles from the Arctic Circle to the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea.

The European Parliament on Wednesday narrowly voted for the nature restoration law with support from traditional center and center-left parties, including Social Democrats and Greens, as well as a few votes from center-right and liberal market-based parties."

Bob Berwyn reports for Inside Climate News July 12, 2023. [2]