*[Enwl-eng] We spoke, they listened
enwl
We're winning! Agricultural giants used every trick in the book - even the war in Ukraine - to convince European leaders to ditch a new climate law protecting nature on farms. [1] But the WeMove Europe community carried the truth to Brussels on a huge, people-powered wave, and now we're just a step away from getting the laws we need.
Agricultural giants lobbied hard to make sure this new law would never see the light of day. They spread the lie that we need to destroy more nature, to have more land to grow food and that this is how we would protect our food supply. For a while, they were winning and convinced EU leaders to postpone this law twice!
But we know the climate crisis is the real threat to our food supply. We're already seeing droughts and heat waves making farmers' jobs even harder in Europe and affecting food supplies across the continent. [2] We need to protect nature like trees, which, as our earth's lungs, absorb greenhouse gases and fight climate change.
So together, we made sure that 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. He agreed: we need new laws to restore nature! [3]
We gathered over 100,000 signatures and, together with our partners, convinced the Vice-President of the European Commission, Frans Timmermans, to announce the new law. He said, "the citizens of Europe have demanded this." [4]
The Restore Nature Law will be the first in 30 years to stop wildlife from disappearing in the EU: a massive win for nature. [5] Farmers will be forced to leave land free for trees and hedges and cut their use of chemical pesticides by half. The changes will help reduce the greenhouse gases that cause climate change and support the recovery of vital insect populations, like bees. [6]
Agricultural giants would have rather grabbed this land to make more profits. They want to use this land to produce more food, using industrial methods, artificial fertilisers and chemical pesticides.
We supported the ways of family farmers instead. They are the experts leading the way, proving that we can grow enough food without damaging the planet. Now, with this proposal, we are even closer to making their way of farming in harmony with nature the norm.
Thank you for making this happen,
David (London), Rachel (Amsterdam),
Olga (Bologna) and the entire WeMove Europe team
References:
[1]
https://www.politico.eu/article/ukraine-russia-war-eu-food-farmer-green-deal-corn-fertilizer/
[2]
https://www.reuters.com/business/environment/europeans-pant-early-summer-heat-waves-threatening-drought-wildfires-2022-06-17/
[3]
https://twitter.com/VSinkevicius/status/1536357263228776449
[4] Commission
announcement during midday briefing 22 June 2022
https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en%5E/speech_22_3968
[5]
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/22/eu-legislation-restoration-ecosystems-biodiversity-aoe
[6]
The Restore Nature Law is a package of rules to protect fallow areas of land and
make sure farmers are restoring nature on parts of their farms by, for example,
planting trees, hedges, and fallows on their fields as well as pesticide and
fertiliser reduction targets.
https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/biodiversity-strategy-2030/eu-nature-restoration-targets_en
[7]
https://presse.inserm.fr/publication-de-lexpertise-collective-inserm-pesticides-et-effets-sur-la-sante-nouvelles-donnees/43303/
WeMove Europe is a community of people from all walks of life,
who call Europe our home,
no matter where we were born, where we live or who
we love. In the name of a brighter future for people and the planet,
we
come together to sign petitions, send letters and protest on the streets to make
our voices heard.
Our power comes from each other. And it's thanks to
small monthly donations, fivers and tenners, that we can keep going.
Vladimir, please help keep WeMove Europe strong by chipping in.
| DONATE! |
WeMove Europe SCE mbH | Planufer 91 Berlin | www.wemove.eu | Privacy policy |
------------- * ENWL * ------------
Ecological North West Line * St. Petersburg, Russia
Independent Environmental Net Service
Russian: ENWL (North West), ENWL-inf (FSU), ENWL-misc (any topics)
English: ENWL-eng (world information)
Send information to en...@lew.spb.org, enwl...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org, en...@lew.spb.org
Subscription,Moderator:vf...@lew.spb.org
Archive: http://groups.google.com/group/enwl/
New digests see on https://ecodelo.org
Additionally: http://www.enwl.net.ru/
(C) Please refer to exclusive articles of ENWL
-------------------------------------