Europe will damage its ability to deliver on an international biodiversity deal if it fails to pass a flagship law to restore nature, the EU's environment chief said ahead of what officials expect to be a tight vote next week.
The European Parliament votes on Wednesday on a beleaguered European Commission proposal for a law to restore damaged environments. The parliament's biggest lawmaker group has said it will reject the bill, sparking a fierce political debate.
The European People's Party, the EU Parliament's biggest lawmaker group, opposes the draft law, saying it would take farmland out of production and endanger food security. The Commission and scientists have rejected this.
Environment Commissioner Virginijus Sinkevicius said sinking the proposal would damage the European Union's international credibility, since it had pushed for more ambitious targets to protect nature at last year's COP15 biodiversity summit.
"We were the force behind the ambition at COP15. We were negotiating, we were pushing the ambition further and higher. And then to be the first ones backtracking, that would be a truly shameful moment," Sinkevicius told Reuters.
At the United Nations summit in December, countries agreed 23 targets to boost biodiversity, including a goal to have 30% of degraded ecosystems under restoration measures by 2030.
That is echoed in the EU's proposal, which would require countries to introduce measures to restore nature in 30% of certain habitats, such as by reviving dried peatlands or introducing more insect and bird-friendly hedgerows on farms.
Sinkevicius said without the bill, which needs to win majority support in next week's vote to survive, Europe would struggle to deliver the international restoration goal.
"We basically are not going to have any tools to reach it."
Elizabeth Mrema, Deputy Executive Director of the UN Environment Programme, said the EU had been a "strong voice" in the biodiversity talks - but the deal's success rested on whether countries followed up with measures to deliver it.
"The EU's restoration law would not only address the continued loss of nature and biodiversity ... but it would also show global leadership," she said.
An EPP spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment. (Reuters)