Greta Thunberg on one side of the street, Christiane Lambert on the other. The environmental activist and the former boss of the FNSEA clashed remotely on Tuesday, in front of the European Parliament in Strasbourg. Both marched on the eve of the vote on the law on the restoration of nature, which the first wants to see adopted, the second especially not. 20 minutes explains the tensions on this text.
What is the Nature Restoration Act?
The text, proposed by the European Commission in mid-2022, aims to halt the decline of biodiversity and better counter climate change by requiring the repair of damaged ecosystems. For each natural environment, all EU Member States would be required to adopt measures to restore at least 30% of damaged habitats to their original state by 2030, then 60% by 2040, if the text was approved by MEPs.
This law is therefore a key element of the European Green Deal, at a time when the continent is particularly sensitive to global warming. The temperature there has already risen by more than 1°C compared to the pre-industrial era, and intensive agriculture, urban development, mass tourism and melting ice have had destructive effects on ecosystems. For example, the continent has lost 25% of its bird population in forty years.
Why are farmers against this law?
One of the two demonstrations on Tuesday, organized by the Committee of Professional Agriculture Organizations (COPA), brought together at least 200 farmers opposed to this text which, according to them, would make them lose agricultural land. “Yes, to the restoration of nature, no to the law on the restoration of nature”, proclaim the farmers, led by Christiane Lambert, former leader of the majority French agricultural union, the FNSEA. Behind them, several dozen tractors were parked opposite the European Parliament.
Farmers denounce a text that would cause them to lose “10% of the useful agricultural area”. There are “already areas that are returned to nature” and farmers have already recorded “a lot of losses” with the new Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), says Florian Lossel, operator near Strasbourg. “After a while it’s too much, it’s no longer possible. MEP LR Anne Sander for her part judged that “the Commission does not take into account either food security or energy security, which are essential”.
An essential mobilization among ecologists?
On the other side of the bridge, a hundred climate activists came to “put pressure” on MEPs, in the hope that this “historic” text will be voted on, testifies Amine Messal, student at ENS Paris – Saclay. “We rarely have legislative opportunities like this” on a European scale “and with at least ambitious objectives” to preserve and restore these spaces, he adds.
Among the climate activists from “at least seven countries” of the EU, the Swedish Greta Thunberg had traveled to Strasbourg to urge MEPs to “vote the strongest possible nature restoration law”, a necessity “. Because the outcome of the vote remains uncertain. The text has already been rejected by three committees in Parliament, including that of the Environment, despite concessions made to the conservatives of the EPP. In the event of failure in the plenary session on Wednesday, the entire Green Pact could go to shreds until the next European elections.