European Commission move to clip pesticide use hailed by Irish environmentalists

Irish environmental groups have welcomed long-awaited proposals setting legally binding targets to halve the use of chemical pesticides in the European Union.

Under the European Commission’s nature restoration proposals, the use of chemical pesticides would be cut by 50 per cent by 2030 and they would be completely banned in “sensitive places” such as public parks, gardens, playgrounds and schools.

Member states are to set their own national reduction targets within defined parameters under the first-ever legislation that explicitly targets the restoration of nature in the bloc. The proposals aim to cover at least 20 per cent of the EU’s land and sea areas by the end of the decade with nature restoration measures and to eventually extend these to all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050.

The proposals now need to be debated and approved by the European Parliament and European Council.

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Minister for State for Heritage Malcolm Noonan strongly welcomed publication of the proposed nature restoration law (NRL). “This is a significant and timely intervention that will support our work to restore biodiversity and bring nature back into people’s lives, and I hope there will be rapid agreement at EU level,” he added.

“I believe that the NRL represents an enormously valuable opportunity for the whole country. The benefits of nature restoration on this scale will ultimately accrue to all of us through clean water to drink, fertile soils to grow food, and climate-resilient habitats that will sequester carbon and help alleviate flooding,” said Mr Noonan, who has responsibility for biodiversity.

“Servicing this regulation will require a national effort, so I’m echoing the Taoiseach’s comments at the national biodiversity conference and calling for a whole of Government and whole of society response. Our urgent priority must be to work together across sectors and communities, and with other Member States, to develop a position that works for Ireland, and one that we can deliver on.”

Fintan Kelly, policy officer with the Irish Environmental Network, said the proposed laws provide “the tools we need to rise to the challenge” of the rebuilding failing ecosystems and that “this is an opportunity that we literally cannot afford to miss”.

Restoration fund

BirdWatch Ireland also welcomed the announcement, describing it as a “huge milestone” which had the potential to put Ireland’s “degraded ecosystems on a path to recovery” on a large scale. Oonagh Duggan, head of advocacy with the organisation, said the Government should “back the highest ambition possible in this law” and establish a nature restoration fund to help “restore our decimated biodiversity”.

The targets were published on Wednesday following months of delays. The proposed nature restoration law was first announced in the European Green Deal in 2020. The plans would scale up existing nature restoration measures such as rewilding, returning trees, greening cities and infrastructure, or removing pollution to allow nature to recover.

Key targets include reversing the decline of pollinator populations such as bees by 2030 and increasing their populations from there on, as well as ensuring no net loss of green urban spaces by 2030 and a 5 per cent increase by 2050. The proposals also aim to increase biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems and restore the habitats of marine species such as dolphins, sharks and seabirds.

Executive vice-president for the European Green Deal Frans Timmermans said the proposed laws represent “a massive step forward in tackling the looming ecocide”.