Study on EU nature governance through the lens of the Nature Restoration Regulation implementation

The EU Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR), which entered into force in August 2024, is the first comprehensive law at a continental scale aimed at restoring Europe's degraded ecosystems. It is a cornerstone of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2030, which puts in place binding targets to restore ecosystems that are essential for biodiversity, climate resilience, and disaster prevention. The NRR marks a paradigm shift in how Europe approaches its interconnected environmental threats. Rather than treating biodiversity loss, climate change, water scarcity, and land degradation as separate policy challenges, the NRR recognises that restoring ecosystems can deliver across multiple sectors simultaneously.

In this context, adelphi research conducted a study for the ECF to explore how the ongoing implementation of the NRR can deliver multiple environmental and social benefits in the EU. The study sought to identify the most promising and feasible approaches to NRR implementation and highlight synergies - or threats – related to other legal, policy, and societal objectives at both EU and national levels. It focused on implementation at the national, regional and local level, examining how restoration can be managed as a catalyst for cross-sectoral collaboration and practical solutions. 

Following a SWOT analysis of sixteen pieces of legislation and strategies, the second phase of the project gathered information on the early stages of implementation building up a series of Member State level case studies on specific areas of interests related to the NRR implementation. 27 interviews with 32 experts (government representatives, environmental NGOs, researchers, sector representatives) in 8 countries were carried out and analysed. The interview findings, combined with relevant literature are summaried in the report: Cross-Sectoral Benefits of the EU Nature Restoration Regulation.

The findings show that the NRR acts as an enabling framework for cross-sectoral governance creating conditions for governance transformation through vertical integration from EU to local levels. It provides political visibility and harmonized concepts that national processes alone have lacked. Additionally, it enhances cross-sectoral synergies, bringing together aims for multiple domains, some unexpected. The eight case studies highlighted benefits in: (1) Climate Mitigation and Adaptation, (2) Reversing Biodiversity Loss, (3) Water Resilience and Governance, (4) Agriculture and Rural Livelihoods, (5) Forestry and Private Landowners, (6) Marine Ecosystems and Fisheries, (7) Health and Wellbeing, (8) Economic Opportunities for Local Communities, (9) Energy and Infrastructure, and (10) Defence and Security.