With the controversial European nature restoration law facing a critical vote in the European Parliament on Thursday, Minister for Environment and Climate Eamon Ryan has said the Government’s position was consistently in favour of the legislation.
“It’s a European issue. The Irish Government position is clear and we’re united on it,” he added – in spite of Taoiseach Leo Varadkar saying some aspects of it “go too far” and do not fully recognise “how we use land in Ireland in particular”.
“The problem is at European level and that requires the likes of the EPP [including Fine Gael MEPs] and other political groupings to decide in the European Parliament,” Mr Ryan said. “Will the EPP want to see the destruction of nature. I doubt that very much.”
The proposed European Union legislation aims to protect at least 20 per cent of land and sea areas by 2030, but has run into stiff opposition.
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The vote takes place at an EP Environment Committee meeting with indications among its 88 MEPs that they are split on the issue, though a Czech MEP, Stanislav Polcak, on Tuesday said he would break ranks and vote in favour. But this is not now the case as he has requested to be substituted at Thursday’s meeting.
Political tensions have been raised amid a claim that EPP president Manfred Webber was threatening their members with expulsion from the grouping if they voted in favour, which was made in a tweet by committee chairman Pascal Canfin of the Renew Europe. Mr Webber denied this was the case and asked for proof.
Mr Ryan said he, with Minister for Agriculture Charlie McConalogue and Minister for Heritage Malcolm Noonan, had been working for four months on it and agreed a position to bring to the European Council; a separate process while the parliament is considering it
He added: “We’re very supportive of nature restoration. It needs to be delivered and if not, what are we going to do instead? Are we going to say, nature destruction is what goes? That’s just not acceptable.”
If rejected, it would be unprecedented during the mandate of European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen and a blow to the European green deal. If there is a narrow vote in favour, it increases the likelihood of amendments being adopted which are likely to weaken it before a plenary of the parliament in July. It is understood a Green-left compromise is set to be put to the committee.
Mr Ryan said he was also confident the Council of Ministers meeting on June 22nd would back the law, but he hoped the committee hurdle would be cleared this week. “If not, it’s still not going to go away. We can’t allow nature to be destroyed.”
“The NRL is vital for our future, for nature, for food security, for climate action and for communities all across the EU – and that includes the farming community. My message is clear: we need to work together to restore nature and I’m asking all MEPs at the ENVI Committee to vote to bring their proposal to Plenary. Nature is our lifeline – there is too much at stake and rejection cannot be an option,” Mr Noonan said.
Recent extreme weather events hitting Europe such as floods across northern Italy and drought in Spain highlighted the need for the law, he said. “Restoring nature is an essential part of dealing with that ... look at the report that has come out last week, 72 per cent of businesses across the EU are reliant on ecosystem services; 75 per cent of bank loans across the Eurozone are at risk from biodiversity loss. So there’s a huge challenge here.”
Major companies including Unilever, Coca-Cola and Nestlé had come out in support of the nature restoration regulation, Mr Noonan noted, “as well as hundreds of other business associates who want us to restore nature. So I think it’s critically important that we get this across the line”.
“The nature restoration law is a massive opportunity for Ireland to restore habitats not only for wildbirds and other wildlife but so they can function properly and deliver benefits for people,” according to Oonagh Duggan, head of advocacy at BirdWatch Ireland.
These benefits include peatlands storing and sequestering carbon; intact dunes systems and coastal wetlands protecting the property behind them by buffering storm surges, she added.
“At the moment, 85 per cent of Ireland’s internationally important habitats are not providing sufficient benefits because they are in bad condition. Worse still, peatlands are significant emitters of carbon.
“We call on [the] Government to support and to promote a strong EU nature restoration law among other member states at the upcoming critically important votes in Brussels. This law must not fall and indeed should be strengthened for all our futures,” Ms Duggan said.
Sabien Leemans, senior biodiversity policy officer at WWF’s European policy office said the EPP’s misinformation campaign was being conducted for electoral gain while falsely claiming they were defending farmers’ interests.
The law was needed for food security rather than the other way around, she told a media briefing, while the claim that 10 per cent of land needed to be abandoned by farmers was “not true at all”.
Prof Jeroen Candel of Wageningen University in the Netherlands said the law was an essential element in reforming Europe’s food system, as currently it was responsible for a third of EU greenhouse gas emissions and the main source of its nature loss.
