Europe’s Nature Restoration Law has now been adopted. What comes next?

The European Union has recently adopted the Nature Restoration Law to
address the widespread degradation of ecosystems. A key concern now is how
effectively the law will be implemented across member states. We highlight
the potential of spontaneous ecological succession as a viable method for
ecosystem restoration, often overlooked in favor of active restoration
approaches. Analysis of 530 global studies and 156 European studies found
that spontaneous succession succeeded in restoring natural or semi-natural
vegetation in 60% and 67% of cases, respectively. This restoration
approach, when applied under suitable conditions, can effectively recover
degraded or destroyed ecosystems while being cost-efficient. We argue that
the ecological benefits of spontaneous succession should be more widely
considered in restoration projects.