Nature Restoration and Economic Productivity Can Go Hand in Hand: EU Study Finds

Strategic Insights -

A new study published in Nature Ecology & Evolution has found that the EU's ambitious Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) is essential to achieving biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation targets without compromising the supply of agricultural and forest products. The study, conducted by an international team of researchers, shows that strategic restoration efforts can yield significant biodiversity and climate benefits while ensuring continued food and timber production across Europe. By using an integrated spatial planning approach, the researchers demonstrate that careful planning can lead to a win-win scenario for biodiversity and sustainable production.

Key Takeaways:

  • The EU's Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) is essential to achieving biodiversity conservation and climate mitigation targets.
  • Strategic restoration efforts can yield significant biodiversity and climate benefits while ensuring continued food and timber production across Europe.
  • Integrated spatial planning approach is key to balancing biodiversity conservation with land management strategies.
  • Neglecting biodiversity in favor of short-term economic gains can lead to ecosystem degradation and harm both nature and livelihoods.
  • National Restoration Plans should outline key areas, species, and habitats targeted by restoration measures and determine baseline levels and targets levels of restoration indicators.
  • The study provides scientific insights into how land use can be allocated efficiently to meet conservation, restoration, and production goals under different economic and policy scenarios.

Statistics:

  • By 2030, 20% of land and water in the EU is expected to be restored under the Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR).
  • Biodiversity losses in Europe are expected to continue or worsen without the implementation of the NRR.
  • The study analyzed over 100 scenarios of land use and restoration under different economic and policy scenarios.
  • The integrated spatial planning approach used in the study considered multiple actions and sectors, minimizing potential conflicts and strategically utilizing each sector's contribution to food and timber provision, nature conservation, and climate mitigation.
  • IIASA, the research institute led by Piero Visconti, has conducted similar studies at national scales that can help shape Nature Restoration Plans.

Sources:

  • Chapman, M., Jung, M., Leclere, D., Boettiger, C., Augustynczik, A.L.D., Gusti, M., Ringwald, L., and Visconti, P. (2025). Meeting EU biodiversity targets under future land-use demands. Nature Ecology & Evolution DOI: 10.1038/s41559-025-02671-1
  • International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA). About IIASA: The International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) is an international scientific institute that conducts research into the critical issues of global environmental, economic, technological, and social change that we face in the twenty-first century.