2.6 Laws and Regulations
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Marta Nowack
“I need to create a new management plan for my forest area. I want to increase biodiversity and adapt my forest to climate change, whilst not changing much of our current way of doing things, and I would like to understand how to move forwards with this.”
When planning and implementing a forest restoration project, it is essential to carefully consider legal requirements, such as regulations around tree species and provenances, as well as the availability of policy support, including financial assistance and practical guidance. To support you with this process, we offer a non-exhaustive list of key forest restoration policies from various political levels – international, EU, and national – which span multiple forest-related policy areas. These areas may include nature conservation, climate change, and renewable energy, all of which often play a role in forest restoration efforts.
Because several policy areas may influence or overlap with restoration goals, it is important to assess potential synergies and trade-offs before implementation. This helps to maximize cross-sectoral benefits and minimize conflicts. To aid in this, we provide an analytical tool, along with country-specific examples, to assess the coherence of forest-related policies across different sectors.
Although the EU Nature Restoration Regulation does not require direct transposition into national law, a certain level of alignment with existing national legislation will likely be essential for the successful and consistent implementation of national forest restoration plans, as well as for making progress toward the selected forest ecosystem restoration indicators.
To support the effective implementation of National Restoration Plans (NRPs) in forest ecosystems across the EU, we provide an assessment of national forest regulatory frameworks in all 27 EU Member States. This assessment focuses on key forest restoration indicators and practices and identifies potential regulatory gaps that countries may need to address to strengthen forest restoration efforts and outcomes
Related resources
A comprehensive analysis of forest restoration practices across Europe: Ecological, economic, social and policy dimensions
Scaling up ecosystem restoration is key to reversing land degradation and biodiversity loss—but real-world efforts face major hurdles. This study across 31 European countries reveals how practitioners navigate ecological, social, and policy challenges, highlighting the need for holistic approaches and better monitoring to ensure restoration success.
SUPERB’s Policy recommendations for the EU Nature restoration Law
SUPERB aims at large scale forest restoration in Europe, combining scientific and practical knowledge to drive actionable outcomes. This policy brief is based on the concepts underpinning this approach and provides four recommendations for changes to the proposed EU Nature Restoration law.