Towards financing large-scale holistic landscape restoration in Europe: Recommendations for EU policy actors to attain inspirational, social, natural and financial returns
The report provides financing recommendations for large-scale holistic landscape restoration in Europe, addressing climate change, biodiversity loss, and food and water insecurity. It emphasises the effectiveness of landscape finance in promoting healthy ecosystems, offering practical frameworks for policymakers to accelerate impactful activities and align natural and community needs for comprehensive restoration.
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OVERVIEW
Introduction
The report explores how the EU can effectively finance holistic landscape restoration (HLR) to achieve multiple benefits such as climate resilience, biodiversity, and inclusive growth. It highlights the necessity of mobilising financial resources following the new EU Nature Restoration Law and presents a framework for financing HLR at the EU level.
Landscape restoration and environmental targets
HLR can address urgent crises like climate change, biodiversity loss, and water and food insecurity. It supports the European Green Deal (EGD) and United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) by restoring ecosystems and the services they provide. By implementing HLR, Europe can work towards climate neutrality, enhance biodiversity, and promote a more resilient food system.
Value of restoration
Investments in landscape restoration generate benefits that outweigh initial costs by eight to ten times. For example, restoring biodiversity-rich land in Europe is estimated to cost EUR 154 billion but could yield benefits worth EUR 1,860 billion, resulting in a cost-benefit ratio of 1:12. Conversely, the cost of inaction is significantly higher.
Holistic landscape restoration approach
Adopting an HLR approach involves implementing locally led, place-based solutions and developing multi-stakeholder landscape partnerships. These partnerships create a shared vision and manage trade-offs between protecting nature and meeting people’s needs. HLR aims to restore ecosystems at a landscape scale, ensuring long-term sustainability and resilience.
Parallels Between Infrastructure and HLR Investments
There are significant parallels between traditional infrastructure investments and HLR. Both require high upfront capital and offer long-term benefits. HLR investments are often more cost-effective and resilient, integrating grey and green infrastructure to enhance climate resilience and generate multiple public benefits.
Landscape finance model
The funding gap for nature restoration is immense. The report suggests redirecting environmentally harmful subsidies to support HLR and attract private investment. It proposes a landscape finance model that includes process funding, ecosystem restoration funding, business development funding, and growth capital. This model emphasises long-term, flexible funding to support landscape partnerships and sustainable business development.
Barriers to restoration finance and solutions
Key barriers include the difficulty in monetising environmental and social benefits, small-scale restoration projects, and high perceived risks. The report suggests that a landscape approach can address these barriers by valuing multiple returns, aggregating investments, and reducing risks through inclusive, multi-stakeholder partnerships.
Recommendations
The report provides several policy recommendations for EU actors:
- Recognise landscapes and landscape partnerships in national and regional plans.
- Develop harmonised accounting and reporting frameworks for landscapes.
- Allocate earmarked funding for landscape restoration within the multiannual financing framework.
- Support landscape partnerships with public funds.
- Integrate grey and green infrastructure investments at the lanscape level.
- Implement nature-aligned incentives, such as reforming the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) to support restoration efforts.
MENTORS & CONTRIBUTORS
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ESG issues
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RELEVANT LOCATIONS
RELATED TAGS
- climate change
- Curated for Regen
- ecosystem restoration
- ecosystem services
- food insecurity
- funding needs
- Global Nature Positive Summit Day 1
- green deal
- holistic landscape restoration
- landscape partnerships
- policy recommendations
- regenerative agriculture
- sustainable development
- technical assistance
- water insecurity