Article by Jason Nardi, Ripess Europe
On the 12th of July, the European Parliament passed the Nature Restoration Law – and this is the good news: without it, a very important pillar of the European Green Deal and of climate and ecosystem protection policies would be lost. The large European campaign “Restore Nature“ with more than 200 organisations made a lot of pressure, as did many other movements. Here is an article published on the Communities for future platform, explaining the issues at stake and why it is so important.
“Despite all the efforts made by the conservatives to reject this law from the beginning, the Nature Restoration Law still stands alive and that is greatly thank to you all and all your messages, tweets, letters, articles, statements, meetings with MEPs, media reactions, etc… It’s very impressive how we managed, along scientists, activists and 1 million messages and signatures, to make clear that there is no future, no food, no planet without nature”, declared the campaign. “Many of the amendments that we really wanted to see in the EP proposal were rejected and some of the bad ones we would have avoided were indeed adopted (read more in the press release), resulting in a very weakened law”. The position agreed today will be moved on to the trilogues, the next phase of the ordinary legislative procedure in the EU institutions; it means that representatives of the Commission, the Council and the Parliament will sit down to negotiate between their positions to agree on a final version of the law.
So yes, it is time to celebrate a victory but… the fight is not over yet!! This was still a bitter-sweet victory, achieved at a very high cost. Solidarity economy is ecosystemic and doesn’t see nature as a commodity. We need to join forces and enlarge the debate to all citizens – these crucial matters cannot be left to lobbyists or insane politicians.
