Bringing degraded territories back to life, restoring space for biodiversity and making the country more resilient to the climate crisis: the consultative phase for the development of the Italian National Recovery Plan (PNR) has finally started in recent days, implementing the European Regulation on Nature Restoration Lawapproved in June 2024.
In practice, it will serve to apply in Italy the objectives of the European regulation adopted in 2024 and to radically change the policies with which our natural environments are protected: in fact, the activation of recovery measures is required for at least 20% of degraded habitats by 2030 and of all degraded habitats by 2050.
Why is this change of pace necessary? Because until now a good part of our policies for the protection of species and natural habitats were based on two European directives: the Birds Directive and the Habitats Directive, which in our country protect around 650 species of plants, birds, mammals, reptiles, invertebrates and around 130 natural habitats. But, despite these directives, according to ISPRA data, to date 91% of the natural habitats in our country are in a bad or inadequate state of conservation and around half of the species protected by European directives are in an unfavorable or unknown state of conservation.
What is the National Wildlife Restoration Plan
The National Recovery Plan (NRP) represents the fundamental operational tool with which Italy will implement the EU Regulation (2024/1991) for the restoration of nature, which aims to guarantee the long-term recovery of biodiversity and the resilience of ecosystems to contribute to the achievement of the EU objectives regarding mitigation and adaptation to climate change and neutrality of land degradation, establishing the obligation for Member States to submit a detailed PNR proposal to the European Commission by 1 September 2026.
In practice it establishes measures, strategies, priorities and resources to bring compromised natural environments back into balance: cities, rivers, coasts, forests, agricultural land, seas and wetlands.
The European objective is clear:
What does it actually involve?
The PNR concerns many areas of daily life and the territory. It means, for example:
All extremely important, because restoring nature will mean:
From 2022, Article 9 of the Italian Constitution protects the environment, biodiversity and ecosystems also in the interests of future generations. The PNR can be one of the first tools capable of transforming that principle into concrete reality. No longer protection only on paper, but in cities, neighborhoods, fields and rivers.
The role of municipalities and citizens
Many Municipalities will be directly involved, but everyone can choose to join and anticipate the change. Citizens, associations and committees can also participate in the public consultation opened by the Ministry of the Environment and ISPRA, contributing with observations and proposals.
Because restoring nature is not a matter for professionals: it concerns the place where we live, breathe, move and the next generations will grow.
For years we have wondered how much land we could still consume. Today we should ask ourselves the opposite: how much territory we still have time to save. The National Nature Restoration Plan may be the answer. It’s up to us to decide whether to leave it on paper or turn it into a real turning point.
Nature Restoration Objective
Meanwhile, Lipu, Touring Club Italiano and WWF Italy welcome this step, but at the same time express concern about the delays accumulated in the process of drafting the Plan and the risk that the public consultation – which began only last week – will transform into a mere formality, limiting the possibility for citizens, stakeholders and the scientific community to make truly significant contributions. In fact, the first draft of the Plan must be transmitted to the European Commission by 1 September 2026.
To support the drafting process, the associations have started the “Obiettivo Ripristino Natura” project, supported by the Cariplo Foundation within the “Nature Calling”, which intends to promote the protection of biodiversity and the health of ecosystems, both by supporting the implementation of national and regional policies and dialogue between civil society and institutions, and by promoting awareness initiatives in schools and for citizens.
The organizations underline that the restoration of nature is not just an environmental issue, but a concrete lever to take care of the territory, improve the landscape and enhance the places also from a tourism perspective.
Paths, wetlands, woods, rivers, coasts but also cities can become more beautiful and usable: where nature is regenerated, the quality of the experience of places improves.
For this reason, the three organizations are launching an appeal for all stakeholders – citizens, associations and the scientific community – to actively participate in the consultation by connecting to the portal https://partecipa.gov.it and completing the relevant questionnaire.
