The European Consortium of Natural Sciences and Natural History Museums and Botanical Gardens gathered around CETAF jointly backs the Nature Restoration Law and urges the decision-maker to approve the Law, without reducing its ambition.
“The community quickly reacted when the Restoration Law has been put in danger in the European Parliament” – says Ana Casino, Executive Director of CETAF – “We jointly have drafted an open letter to the decision-makers to show our deep concern and to push them to respect the commitments under the Global Biodiversity Framework at the UN Convention on Biological Diversity COP15 in Montréal last December. We opened the letter even to other organizations and institutions outside CETAF because this is really a dramatic moment we can not miss” – Casino continues – “We shall not keep our eyes shut facing the accelerating climate change effects, the biodiversity crisis and the sizeable consequences on the food production and the health and safety of the populations.”
It’s worth remembering that almost half of the World’s richness derives from nature.
CETAF’s members, all research institutions holding natural sciences collections, keep almost 80% of the World’s described diversity.
“They definitely don’t want to be holding more and more extinct species…” – ends Casino – “Nature’s incredible capacity to self-restore must be tirelessly helped by political actions. We can not afford to lose more time and resources, that’s why we are addressing this open letter to our legislators and decision-makers and we really hope the Nature Restoration Law will be approved at the EU level as soon as possible.”
BACKGROUND INFORMATION
On Thursday 15 June 2023, the European Parliament’s Environment Committee will vote on the Nature Restoration Act proposed by the European Commission as a key element of the EU’s Biodiversity Strategy/Green Deal for Europe. If approved, this proposal will be the first law of its kind on a continental scale, calling for binding targets to restore degraded ecosystems. This restoration will increase carbon capture and storage, help reduce the impact of natural disasters and ultimately benefit employment and food security.
To reinforce the need for an ambitious Nature Restoration Act, and in the face of opposition from the Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) and Fisheries (PECH) Committees, six leading European scientific institutes have launched an open letter calling on EU leaders and members of the Environment Committee to vote in favour of the Nature Restoration Act. The initiative is supported by the CETAF (Consortium of European Taxonomic Facilities) network, which brings together more than 70 European natural history museums and botanical gardens.