Five steps for successful restoration: How can EU countries make the most of the new Nature Restoration Regulation?
As the EU’s Nature Restoration Regulation came into force, the big question is how countries can turn its ambition into action? A new study from the SUPERB project, published in Restoration Ecology, draws lessons from Germany and proposes five essential conditions for effective national restoration strategies.
These include building broader public support for restoration efforts, setting clear and measurable national targets, aligning restoration with other land-use priorities, ensuring strong legal and institutional support, and making restoration more attractive to landowners and managers.
Although based on the German context, the study’s findings are designed to help all EU countries prepare their national restoration plans, which must be drafted by September 2026. With ecosystems still under pressure and biodiversity in decline, the authors argue that Member States must seize this opportunity to move beyond paper goals and invest in meaningful on-the-ground action.
Read the full study here to learn more about the five steps.
Reference: Elisabeth Marquard, Moritz Hermsdorf, Henriette Dahms, Katharina Schleicher, Sebastian Strunz, Mechthild Baron, Markus Salomon, Hannah-Lea Schmid, Sophie Wiegand, Claudia Hornberg, Nina Farwig, Volkmar Wolters, Jürgen Bauhus, Peter H. Feindt, Wolfgang Köck, Josef Settele
Photo: Tanakorn / Adobe Stock
