Mick Wallace: Nature Restoration Law is an Existential Necessity
Mick Wallace warned that global biodiversity collapse is a real threat and urged dramatic action to address the climate and biodiversity crises. He described the nature restoration law as an existential necessity while acknowledging the proposal is imperfect and may be weakened in Parliament.
Opening remarks
He thanked Cesar and his staff for their great work on the legislation.
Scientific urgency
He said the scientific consensus is that if dramatic action is not taken within the next decade there may be irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of societies - the science is absolutely clear on the risks to food security, agriculture and humanity.
Recent extreme weather in Piemonte
He referenced last week’s unprecedented damage in Piemonte, Italia, where grapevines and hazelnuts suffered severe losses, saying in some cases total crops were wiped out by hazelnuts "bigger than golf balls" and temperatures reached 30 degrees.
Nature restoration law's role and limits
He argued the nature restoration law can help address both the climate and biodiversity crises but said it is not perfect to radically alter the "utterly broken economic system" that depends on perpetual extraction of finite resources to fuel infinite expansion.
Legislative outlook and hope for a workable framework
He warned any Parliament text after this week’s vote is likely to be weaker than the Commission's proposal but expressed hope that negotiations with the Council will produce a workable legal framework that sufficiently addresses the biodiversity crisis - stating that our future depends on it.
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Firstly, thanks to the Cesar and his staff for their great work on the legislation The threat of global biodiversity collapse is real The scientific consensus is that if we do not take dramatic action within the next decade we may face irreversible damage to the natural world and the collapse of our societies The science is absolutely clear The biggest threat to our food security to the future of agriculture to the very persistence of humanity are the climate and biodiversity crises The nature restoration law can help to address both Last week in Piemonte in Italia there was unprecedented damage to grapevines and hazelnuts In some cases total crops were wiped out by hazelnuts bigger than golf balls and it was 30 degrees The nature restoration law is not perfect to radically alter our utterly broken economic system which depends on perpetual extraction of finite resources to fuel infinite expansion and unfortunately any Parliament text we end up with after the vote this week is likely to be quite a bit weaker than the Commission's proposal It won't be ideal but I am hopeful to have the negotiations with the Council we will have a legal framework that is workable and that sufficiently addresses the biodiversity crisis Our future depends on how we have a legal framework that is workable and that sufficiently addresses the biodiversity crisis It depends on how we have a legal framework that depends on it The nature restoration law is an existential necessity
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