The proposed Nature Restoration Regulation provides an opportunity for transformative change in relation to achieving nature restoration in Ireland and the EU as a whole. While much of the recent focus has been on rewetting and agricultural impacts, the proposed regulation covers a wide range of land and marine options - urban, agricultural, river, marine and forest environments.
The initial impact assessment underpinning the Nature Restoration Regulation proposal estimated the total financing needs for nature restoration in the EU at EUR 6 to 8 billion per year. This assessment points to the fact that the economic benefits of nature restoration far outweigh its costs. Every euro invested in nature restoration is estimated to result in at least 8 euro in benefits.
Member States will need to conduct national impact assessments of the proposals including the economic costs arising. Ireland has adopted a ‘whole of Government’ approach to the Regulation and its implementation. Therefore, each key Department we be required to undertake, as a priority, an analysis of the likely sectoral impacts in order to inform a coherent national impact assessment, including the economic costs arising, as relevant.
This work will feed in to the preparation of the National nature restoration plan and each key Department will need to allocate the necessary resources and expertise to engage fully in the development of the Plan, its implementation and the monitoring and reporting required thereafter, in accordance with any timeframes or milestones agreed as part of the final Regulation. Significant stakeholder involvement will be key to the creation of the plan.
On the subject of rewetting, restoration of drained peatlands does not necessarily mean bringing the water table to surface level and rewetting is just one of several tools available for restoration of target ecosystems. The latest definition of rewetting, proposed in the EU Council’s latest draft of the Regulation has significant flexibility built in as a result of our negotiations with the EU Council and the Commission.
This will allow Ireland to determine for ourselves what rewetting means in our national circumstances. It should be noted that restoration of drained peatlands is not the same as rewilding and does not necessarily involve taking land entirely out of agricultural use.
The proposed Regulation provides that restoration targets relating to drained peatlands, including rewetting, can be achieved across a range of areas including former industrial peat extraction sites and other drained peatlands. This allows for the targets up to 2030 and beyond to be achieved within state-owned lands.
A high level assessment of the cost of compliance will be undertaken over the summer, once clarity on the proposal emerges, to accurately calculate the investment needed to support the transformative changes required to meet the proposed targets.
