On October 17th the European Landscape Contractors Association (ELCA) had an online meeting with Mrs Anne Sander, member of the European Parliament. Topic was the EU Nature Restoration Law, which is in trialogue now between the European Parliament, the Council of the EU and the European Commission.

ELCA is in favour of workable targets in greening cities. In the original text of the Nature Restoration Law, which was presented by the European Commission in June 2022, the aim was a no net loss of urban green space by 2030 and a growth of green spaces with 5% and tree canopy by 10% in 2050. The compromise text, that is on the table now, has replaced these concrete targets into the global definition of ‘a raising trend till a satisfactory level is reached’. Mrs Anne Sander made it clear, that it will be hard to bring back concrete percentages into the final text of the law. She recommends to look at how the national plans for greening cities will be. ELCA supports the translation of the EU-goals into national and local plans and advocates that it is important to define how to monitor the efforts and results in greening initiatives. It is to be expected, that the European Commission will form an expert group in order to develop a monitoring system. ELCA is willing to offer its expertise and is interested in joining this expert group. Mrs Anne Sander, who knows the landscape and gardening sector very well because of her contacts in the Alsace, appreciated the online meeting and invited ELCA to keep informing her on our position in the Nature Restoration Law.

Picture: Mrs Anne Sander, member of the European Parliament.