In June 2022, the Commission presented a proposal for a new Regulation that will set binding targets for EU Member States to begin restoring biodiversity by 2030. After intense negotiations, the Regulation was finally approved on 17 June 2024. Sweeping in scope, the Nature Restoration regulation holds states to start the process of reviving their grasslands, forests, wetlands, fresh waters and marine areas, and to increase the ambition of their restoration actions over time. It also requires Member States to guarantee green space and tree cover within European cities, to halt the decline of pollinator populations, to ensure that agriculture coexists with biodiversity, to restore waterways to a healthy state, and return some of them to a free-flowing state.
The PRIN 2022 PNRR RINASCI will analyse the legal issues raised by this new EU framework for nature restoration, including its basis in European law and its coherence with Italian constitutional principles, its connection to existing EU law on protected areas and species, its synergy with the CAP. The work will highlight potential governance issues or any potential conflicts between nature restoration and property rights or other fundamental rights. Instruments for financing restoration projects, including state aid, will also be studied in depth, as will the place of public participation in restoration projects and planning.
The project has three main deliverables:
- Outreach activities (2024)
- Nature Restoration report (First semester 2025)
- Final conference and edited volume (Fall 2025)
