EU countries have reached a new stage in implementing the Nature Restoration Law. By 2030, restoration measures must cover at least 20% of the EU’s land and 20% of its sea areas. But restoring an ecosystem means much more than planting trees.

1 September 2026 marked an important deadline for European nature: EU Member States were required to submit their draft national restoration plans to the European Commission. These documents explain how the regulation’s targets will become action on the ground.

This milestone is not, in itself, evidence of new forests or recovered habitats. It marks the point at which shared European objectives must become national programmes that can be assessed, with measures up to 2030 and a longer-term outlook towards 2040 and 2050.

The starting position is difficult. The European Environment Agency’s assessment based on reporting for 2013–2018 found that 81% of assessments of protected habitat types in the EU indicated poor or bad conservation status. Just 15% indicated good status.

What the Nature Restoration Law actually requires

The EU Nature Restoration Regulation, which entered into force in August 2024, adds a crucial dimension to biodiversity policy. Protecting what remains is essential, but degraded ecosystems also need help to recover.

Its overarching objective is for restoration measures, taken collectively across the Union, to cover at least 20% of EU land and at least 20% of EU sea areas by 2030. By 2050, measures should cover all ecosystems that need restoration.

For the terrestrial, coastal and freshwater habitat types covered by the relevant provisions, the regulation also requires measures on at least 30% of their total area that is not in good condition by 2030, followed by further targets for 2040 and 2050 under the rules set out in the legislation.

The key word is measures. These percentages do not mean that a fifth of Europe must return to a perfectly natural state within four years. They refer to the area where restoration action must be put in place. That distinction matters when judging what the law delivers.

AI-generated infographic for illustrative purposes: it explains the restoration framework and does not document a real project or measured results.

Nature restoration means more than planting trees

Environmental restoration often brings to mind rows of newly planted saplings. Yet an ecosystem is more than a collection of trees, and restoration is broader than reforestation.

The regulation covers terrestrial and marine habitats, rivers, lakes, forests, wetlands, grasslands, farmland and urban ecosystems. It also addresses pollinators and biodiversity in agricultural and forest landscapes.

For a river, restoration might involve removing obsolete artificial barriers so water, sediment and wildlife can move more freely. The EU’s 2030 ambition includes contributing to the recovery of at least 25,000 kilometres of free-flowing rivers.

In a wetland, the priority might be to restore disrupted water levels. On farmland, it could involve supporting habitat diversity and landscape features. In cities, green space and tree cover are part of the picture.

Sometimes recovery also requires less intervention: reducing damaging pressures can allow natural processes to resume. The appropriate approach depends on the habitat and its condition.

A habitat is not scenery to be rebuilt. It is a network of water, soil, plants, animals and ecological processes that need to function together.

The River Nera. Photo: Niels Baars / Unsplash. Illustrative landscape photograph; it does not document a project under the Nature Restoration Law.

Why Europe is taking action

The 81% figure needs careful interpretation. It concerns conservation-status assessments of habitat types protected under the Habitats Directive, using the 2013–2018 reporting cycle. It does not describe “81% of all European nature”.

Even with that qualification, the findings show the scale of the challenge. Pressures include intensive agriculture, urban expansion, pollution, unsustainable forestry practices and climate change. The EEA’s Europe’s environment 2025 biodiversity briefing reports that in 2021 only 38% of rivers, lakes, transitional waters and coastal waters achieved good or high ecological status.

Recovering these systems matters beyond species conservation. Healthy ecosystems can support water regulation, soil health, carbon storage and resilience to drought, extreme heat, wildfires and floods.

However, no intervention automatically produces every benefit. The place, ecosystem, technique, starting conditions and subsequent management all matter. Outcomes need to be measured over time.

From an EU regulation to national plans

National restoration plans are where these choices become concrete. Each Member State must identify restoration needs, set out measures and coordinate them with other policies, including agriculture, water management, forestry and marine policy. Preparation must also provide opportunities for public and stakeholder participation.

The documents due in September 2026 are draft plans, not final plans. The Commission, supported by the EEA, assesses them and provides observations. The regulation gives it six months from receipt to assess a draft; Member States then take those observations into account when completing their plans under the prescribed procedure.

Submitting a plan and achieving ecological recovery are therefore separate steps. Implementation and monitoring will determine whether the proposed measures work.

Different countries, a shared framework

Europe’s landscapes and administrative systems vary considerably. National planning must accommodate those differences while meeting common EU obligations.

Spain’s environment ministry confirmed that it submitted its draft on 31 August 2026, following work with regional and other authorities and public participation. Its announcement covers terrestrial, coastal, marine, river and urban ecosystems, as well as pollinators.

Austria offers another perspective on coordination: its federal ministry describes a planning process developed jointly with the nine federal states, with involvement from science, representative organisations, civil society and the public.

These examples illustrate different routes for organising restoration. They are not a ranking of ecological results: a submitted draft or an established coordination process cannot yet demonstrate recovered habitats. The legal requirements discussed here apply to EU Member States; they should not be read as obligations imposed on the United Kingdom by this regulation.

The River Soča. Photo: Blaz Erzetic / Unsplash. Illustrative landscape photograph; it does not document a project under the Nature Restoration Law.

A transformation that photography can help document

Ecological restoration has a particular quality: some of its effects can become visible. A wetland floods again, a forest develops a more complex structure, a river loses an obsolete barrier or vegetation returns to an urban space.

Photography can do more than celebrate spectacular landscapes. Returning to the same location over several years, ideally using the same viewpoint and comparable seasonal conditions, creates a visual record of change. Images cannot replace scientific indicators, but they can help make those indicators understandable.

This is also a reason to look beyond apparently untouched scenery. A restored channel, a peatland, a meadow, a strip of vegetation beside a field or a small urban woodland may tell an equally meaningful ecological story.

2030 is close, but recovery takes time

The Nature Restoration Law has turned a broad aspiration into shared obligations, deadlines and procedures. National plans are the stage at which that framework must begin to take shape in individual landscapes.

But an approved plan is not yet a recovered ecosystem. The coming years will test the quality of interventions, funding, continuity of management and, above all, measurable results. Are habitats and species improving? Are rivers becoming connected again? Do restored areas retain their gains?

Next time you photograph a river, forest, wetland or local green space, keep a precise record of the location, date and viewpoint. In a few years, that photograph could become more than a memory: a small document of a changing European landscape.

Image note: River Nera photograph by Niels Baars / Unsplash; River Soča photograph by Blaz Erzetic / Unsplash. These photographs illustrate the ecosystems discussed and are not evidence of interventions funded or delivered under the regulation. The infographic was generated with AI and is illustrative.

Sources

European Union, Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 on nature restoration — Legal text establishing restoration targets and national planning procedures.

European Commission, Nature Restoration Regulation — Overview of the regulation, ecosystems covered and implementation framework.

European Environment Agency, State of nature in the EU — Assessment based on Member State reporting for 2013–2018.

European Environment Agency, State of Europe’s biodiversity — Europe’s environment 2025 briefing, including the 2021 ecological-status figure for surface waters.

European Commission, EU countries submit draft plans on restoring nature — Announcement of 1 September 2026 explaining the draft-plan stage and assessment process.

MITECO, Spain submits its draft National Nature Restoration Plan to the European Commission — Official Spanish announcement of 31 August 2026; source in Spanish.

Austria’s BMLUK, Nature Restoration Regulation — Official account of coordination between federal authorities and the nine federal states; source in German.