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Farmers protested against the nature restoration regulations. Now the government is working on their implementation

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More widespread access to the natural environment and clean water; stopping urban concrete and more trees to protect against heat; walks in valuable natural forests; more fish in the rivers, better crops in the fields and good quality food. This is the promise of the EU law on the reconstruction of natural resources.

Watch the video Marek Kotowski: A conflict is artificially created between agriculture and nature protection

Although non-governmental organizations and naturalists talk about these potential benefits, the nature restoration law (NRL) has gained a lot of attention in the media mainly due to criticism and controversy. It was narrowly adopted by the European Union last year. Now, when the government is working on introducing regulations in Poland, the challenge is, on the one hand, to create a good plan and, on the other hand, to talk about it in a way that will overcome disinformation and black PR for nature conservation.

Why does the law concern the “restoration” of nature? Because our current “protection” turned out to be insufficient. Despite various existing forms of nature protection, most natural habitats are not in good condition. The number of birds and pollinating insects is decreasing, and many plant and animal species are at risk of extinction. The implementation of NRL is intended to stop and reverse these negative trends. This is what Paweł Pawlaczyk from the Naturalists' Club said about it on Tuesday at a conference on NRL:

The more we study ecosystems, the more we see how much we and previous generations have managed to spoil. 80 percent Polish forests were spoiled by previous generations of foresters, even though they worked with the best intentions. Today's forestry must take on cleaning up after previous generations as its main task. Today's management of aquatic ecosystems is burdened with the heavy burden of well-intentioned river regulation. Today we have to fix it.

National nature restoration plan

The EU law on the restoration of natural resources was adopted as a regulation – this means that its provisions apply directly to each member state (unlike directives that need to be “translated” into national law). This means that Poland must start implementing it now.

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The first and most important step is to create a national plan for the reconstruction of natural resources (KPO ZP). At the end of last year, a team to develop a plan began working at the Ministry of Climate and Environment. For now, the activities are at an early stage, but there will be a lot of work and its pace must be fast.

By September 1, 2026, the document – previously adopted as a resolution of the Council of Ministers – should be sent to the European Commission, which in turn will present its comments. By then, Poland should identify degraded natural areas, plan specific actions to restore them by 2030, as well as a strategic action plan until 2050. Inter-ministerial and social consultations will take place.

River restoration

The numerous challenges related to the creation and implementation of the NRL were discussed on Tuesday at a conference organized by a group of environmental organizations (collected in the 10% Coalition – from the goal of protecting 10% of Poland's area).

Paweł Pawlaczyk from the Naturalists' Club talked about the potential benefits of implementing NRL. It assumes, among other things, the renaturalization of rivers, restoring some of them to free flow, and restoring some wetlands.

If we implement the NRL, we will significantly improve the functioning of our rivers, with benefits in flood and drought protection. Of course, this comes at a price: we must see the river as more than just a riverbed, but also a river valley. And sometimes make room for this river there

– said Pawlaczyk. Joanna Kopczyńska, the president of Wód Polskie, who participated in the conference, said that the NRL should not raise concerns regarding rivers, because its goals – in her opinion – are not very ambitious. The law assumes the restoration of 25,000 km of rivers in the European Union. Meanwhile, in only one year, Wody Polskie submitted applications to finance the restoration of almost 1,500 km of rivers, of course only in Poland – said Kopczyńska.

Dr. Alicja Pawelec from WWF talked about what may happen if the river is successfully renaturalized, at least to some extent. The concrete threshold there was cleared in one weekend. – Fish that had not had access to it for 50 years immediately appeared in the river. We have opened 20 km of the river to migration, she said.

There will be no “flooding of fields”.

The nature restoration law was criticized in agricultural circles and by some politicians due to provisions that would allegedly harm farmers. The loudest was the issue of “flooding farms” – many statements and media included information that the NRL required “flooding 400,000 hectares” of arable land. This – as was emphasized at the conference – is completely untrue.

The false narrative attacking the NRL comes from regulations regarding the restoration of wetlands and irrigation of drained peat bogs. There used to be many more wetlands in Poland (and elsewhere), but for centuries intensive drainage was carried out, mainly for agricultural fields. Direct exploitation of peat is still ongoing. This has its natural consequences – peat bogs are great water reservoirs, absorb carbon dioxide, and are home to many species. When they are dried, they emit greenhouse gases. All drained peat bogs in Poland emit as much annually as the Bełchatów power plant – said Prof. at the conference. Wiktor Kotowski.

An expert from the Wetland Protection Center explained that although the NRL talks about irrigating drained peat bogs, in practice there will be no need to require this from farmers – although it is worth encouraging them to do so.

– By 2050, we need to rehydrate and restore 150,000 ha of peat bogs – said Kotowski and pointed out, this is only about 10 percent of all drained peat bogs in Poland. Of this, 60 thousand ha falls in the areas of the State Forests, and 90 thousand ha remain for agricultural purposes. ha.

This is very little. This recipe has been watered down outrageously. You don't need farmers to do this if they don't want to do it. Because so many areas can be found on state agricultural land or in national parks.

– he said. He added that scaring NRL farmers “doesn't make sense”, and they see the need to restore water retention. At the same time, he criticized the Ministry of Agriculture, whose recent decision “sanctions further destruction and drainage of peat bogs.”

Protecting wetlands is one of the activities affecting agriculture. Others concern rebuilding the population of pollinating insects – necessary for some crops, rebuilding soil quality and bird populations. As experts emphasized, increasing the number of birds is, of course, not the goal of agriculture, but their population is an indicator. It has been decreasing dramatically in recent years, which proves the degradation of nature.

Black PR for nature restoration

In addition to a good nature restoration plan, the authorities must also learn to better communicate about NRL and environmental protection in general, experts agreed at the conference.

– Black PR around the nature restoration law did not come out of nowhere. We were not prepared for this discussion and reliable information was replaced by disinformation. Sometimes also from the most important politicians in the country, said Dr. Paulina Sobiesiak-Penszko from the Institute of Public Affairs.

In her opinion, farmers would not necessarily be so critical of the NRL if they knew exactly what it was really about. – And if they heard (false) information that someone would flood their fields, it's no wonder they had concerns – she added. She also pointed out that it is important to listen to the perspective of farmers themselves. On the one hand, they clearly see problems such as drought or decline in soil quality. But, trying to ensure the profitability of their farms, they operate in the conditions of quantity-oriented agriculture. Which often conflicts with ecological practices.



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