How we defeated agri-giants
August 7, 2024
By Lesly Lila
Nature is disappearing on a mass scale. Many birds face extinction, governments cut down trees en masse, and corporations pollute our soil and water with pesticides.
So when we got the chance to reverse this destruction with a landmark new law, this community rallied and took action.
It took two years to see it through but finally, we won! In June this year the EU adopted the Nature Restoration Law in a final vote. [1]
Now European countries will have to use fewer pesticides. They must also plant 3 billion trees to regrow forests and make space for nature to recover. [2] Healthier natural habitats will help us fight the climate crisis and shield our communities from floods, oppressive heat waves and droughts. [3]
This is a huge victory for people and the planet!
It’s been a challenging journey to get there. Big agribusinesses backed by extremist politicians have fought tooth and nail to ditch this important bill. They managed to delay it several times, spreading lies about how it would create a burden for farmers. They even tried to block it by exploiting the farmers' protests earlier this year. [4]
So together we made sure EU leaders heard the truth. We sent hundreds of tweets to the Environment Commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevičius, telling him how important defending Europe’s nature is for our future. And he responded by supporting our call for a new law to restore nature.
While the bill was on hold, we gathered over 100,000 signatures urging EU leaders to resist pressure from agri-giants. Thanks to this community and our partners, the then Vice-President of the European Commission announced he would move forward with the Nature Restoration Law. [5]
Finally, ahead of a plenary vote in the EU Parliament, hundreds in this community contacted MEPs to make sure they would vote in favour of the bill.
Until the last minute, the fate of rivers, forests and birds hung in the balance. But together we drowned out the voices of agri-giants and achieved this historic victory.
While we won this battle, the journey to get there is a cautionary tale of the tougher struggles that lie ahead. The law was passed with an extremely slim majority. Every step of the way, agri-giants lobbyists fought back and nearly killed the bill. They still managed to water it down by removing key provisions to save the bees and make farming sustainable.
It’s been a challenging journey to get there. Big agribusinesses backed by extremist politicians have fought tooth and nail to ditch this important bill. They managed to delay it several times, spreading lies about how it would create a burden for farmers. They even tried to block it by exploiting the farmers' protests earlier this year. [4]
So together we made sure EU leaders heard the truth. We sent hundreds of tweets to the Environment Commissioner, Virginijus Sinkevičius, telling him how important defending Europe’s nature is for our future. And he responded by supporting our call for a new law to restore nature.
While the bill was on hold, we gathered over 100,000 signatures urging EU leaders to resist pressure from agri-giants. Thanks to this community and our partners, the then Vice-President of the European Commission announced he would move forward with the Nature Restoration Law. [5]
Finally, ahead of a plenary vote in the EU Parliament, hundreds in this community contacted MEPs to make sure they would vote in favour of the bill.
Until the last minute, the fate of rivers, forests and birds hung in the balance. But together we drowned out the voices of agri-giants and achieved this historic victory.
While we won this battle, the journey to get there is a cautionary tale of the tougher struggles that lie ahead. The law was passed with an extremely slim majority. Every step of the way, agri-giants lobbyists fought back and nearly killed the bill. They still managed to water it down by removing key provisions to save the bees and make farming sustainable. ){kind=link}