Nature Restoration Law: The Battle for Urban Greening Targets in the European Union

Nature Restoration Law: The Battle for Urban Greening Targets in the European Union

Macro of a honey bee (apis mellifera) on a mint (menta piperita) blossom with blurred bokeh background; pesticide free environmental protection save the bees biodiversity concept.

The Nature Restoration Law is crucial for the transformation of our cities. It’s time to support it, for citizens, future generations & our planet, writes Luigi Petito for Living Architecture Monitor

A few issues ago, I wrote a piece about the vital contribution of green and blue infrastructure to urban biodiversity. I sang the praises of the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 – a strategy that recognises the wide-ranging societal benefits of greening urban and peri-urban areas. 

The cornerstone of that strategy is the Nature Restoration Law, a proposal from the European Commission for legally binding EU nature restoration targets to restore ecosystems and help to increase biodiversity, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and prevent and reduce the impacts of natural disasters. One of the ecosystems addressed in the law is urban areas for which the European Commission proposes a framework of legally binding urban greening targets in public spaces and in the design of buildings. Many readers will have probably read the headlines about the law over the last few weeks, but unfortunately not for the right reasons. 

With the Nature Restoration Law the European Commission made an unprecedented and ambitious move. And in my view the law is a crucial step to guide the transformation of our cities. Let’s be clear here, the green transformation of our cities is a “must have”, an urgent and absolute necessity. Climate action is no longer a “nice to have”. 

Read the full article by Luigi Petito in Living Architecture Monitor.

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