EU will propose new law to make nature restoration legally binding in the EU

CCB • March 23, 2021

Nature as we know it is heading towards extinction. And it’s because of human activity. Logging, intensive agriculture and overfishing have pushed one million animal and plant species to the point where they’re hanging by a thread. The European Commission will propose a new law to make nature restoration legally binding for EU countries. But as it stands, there is no definition of what this will actually mean.

Right now, the Commission is asking the public to give their opinion on what nature restoration across the EU should look like, which is open for feedback until the 5th of April 2021.

BirdLife Europe, the European Environmental Bureau and WWF European Policy Office, have now launched #RestoreNature – a campaign demanding to restore nature across Europe now. [1] The message to the European Commission is simple: Only through meaningful, transformative change at land and sea can we bring back the biodiversity we desperately need. It will help us to mitigate and adapt to the climate crisis, and prevent the future spread of diseases.

Through the #RestoreNature campaign citizens from both within and outside the EU can demand that the EU develops a good law that can help reverse the fate of nature in Europe, and beyond and start giving land, sea and water back to nature.

This EU law can be a real game-changer for people and nature, but only if it is grounded in science. Failing that, it risks ending up an empty green-washing tool.

This is about the survival of our precious wetlands, peatlands, grasslands, forests, floodplains, rivers, and oceans. But it is also about our climate, our health, and the survival of humankind. Protecting what is left is needed but won’t cut it. We also need to bring nature back. We must #RestoreNature now. Our survival depends on it.

CCB joined the campaign [2] on its social media pages: “We are in the midst of a sixth mass extinction with species disappearing at more than 100 times the natural rate, right before our own eyes, with disastrous consequences for our climate, our health, and our wellbeing”.

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Don't reopen the EU Common Fisheries Policy (CFP). Implement it.

By CCB • June 15, 2026
The European Commission's evaluation confirms what environmental NGOs across Europe have long argued: the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP)'s challenge is not its design, but its implementation.

Joint NGO recommendations on Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2027

By CCB • June 10, 2026
The poor status and decline of many Baltic Sea fish populations have been thoroughly documented over several decades, indicating that the entire ecosystem is in great distress. So far, policy interventions have not reversed, or even halted, the negative trend concerning many of these populations. The European Commission itself recently recognised in its Common Fishery Policy (CFP) evaluation report that progress on stock rebuilding is lacking and the number of stocks “ threatened by collapse due to impaired recruitment has increased during the reporting period ”. Fish populations that once formed the cornerstone of the Baltic Sea fishery, such as the eastern and western Baltic cod and the western Baltic herring, are now doing so poorly that the International Council for the Exploration of the Sea (ICES) is advising zero catch for these stocks. Yet, even with the targeted fishery being closed for some years now, none of these three stocks are showing sufficient signs of recovery. The condition (such as size and weight-at-age) of many flatfish populations, such as plaice, also raises alarm bells. The salmon spawning migration has fallen short of the target level in the past three years5. As a result, even the healthiest salmon stocks are now unlikely to produce enough smolts corresponding to sustainable levels in the coming years. To address the crisis facing Baltic populations and the broader ecosystem, political will and ambition to improve fisheries management, alongside full implementation of the CFP provisions, are needed. The recent INI report on the Baltic Sea Multi-Annual Plan shows that the European Parliament recognises the importance of ecosystem-based fisheries management as well as the need for consideration of environmental legislation when making decisions on fishing opportunities.6 Fisheries managers must now act swiftly and decisively on the commitment the Commission and Baltic Sea Member States made at last year’s October Agrifish Council to rebuild Baltic Sea stocks. This document presents the joint NGO recommendations regarding Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2027, prioritising long-term ecosystem health and sustainable fisheries management over short-term economic interests. The recommendations are based on the ICES advice, the objectives and requirements of the CFP8 and the Baltic Multiannual Plan (MAP), specifically to apply the precautionary approach and implement an ecosystem-based approach to fisheries management, and the objective of achieving Good Environmental Status (GES) under the Marine Strategy Framework Directive (MSFD). Last year’s overarching joint Briefing Series on TAC-setting, co-signed by almost 30 organisations across the EU and the UK, including environmental NGOs, recreational fishers, and fishing rights owners, remains valid and provides further context, background and detailed explanations on the cross-cutting issues raised in this document. Read the Joint NGO recommendations on Baltic Sea fishing opportunities for 2027 here .