A Civil Society Dialogue along RESTORE Nature

National preparations are underway towards the implementation of the new EU law to RESTORE NATURE. This journey will be demanding and potentially rocky, because the law unites all pressing questions and conflicts around land use.

As long-standing regional and civil society professionals in the European integration space (e.g. on enlargement, civic space, regional development), we know just how decisive and it is to include active shapers of civil society, place-based changemakers and societal leaders into complex societal and policy processes from the beginning, and throughout the journey.

RESTORE can act as a divider – or, as a unifier. It can act as a threat to civic space, and an accelerator of polarization and toxification of the public conversation – or, as a safe space and incubator for contact, exchange, learning, and advancing not only goals related to nature and biodiversity, but equally goals related to societal cohesion, mutual understanding, trust, and ultimately, the social peace in our regions.

Therefore, we think it’s important to incept and ensure a forward-oriented civil society dialogue and strategic engagement along this law’s path of implementation in the EU.

We thus propose the incoming European Commission to enable

1. AN IMPACT STRATEGY AROUND RESTORE

Start a process to jointly formulate a RESTORE NATURE Impact Strategy across the EU, with a view to convene and ensure a continuous civil society dialogue along the implementation, incl. assessments, reviews. - This shall serve as an enriching line of contact, exchange, and engagement between „Brussels“ and civil society organisations plus individual shapers and changemakers in local and regional settings.

2. A CIVIL SOCIETY NETWORK AROUND "RESTORE"

Nature restoration is a matter concerning societies across the board. Hence we aim to identify, activate, and build an agile and ambitious civil society network on RESTORE, with regular possibilities for convening, cross-learning, and capacity-building.

At AGORA, we think of a broad spectrum of civil society players across Europe’s regions, including rights-based, education,- community- or youth-oriented, social innovation, etc. civil society groups and individuals.

In the long term, we envision this to act as a civil society and knowledge network that can enrich local and regional stakeholder processes and mitigate place-based conflicts.

3. A THEMATIC FUND AROUND "RESTORE"

A public-private thematic fund for civil society and nature restoration would harness the full potential of existing frontrunners, blueprints, and good practices and nodes/networks; as well as philanthropic, public, and private resources.

+++

What is AGORA doing next? These weeks, the RESTORE team around Alexander Kesselring and myself reach out to different stakeholders in this field to see how we can best align values, aims, methodologies and forge an alliance of like-minded partners that drive the process together.

Stay tuned, sign up for AGORA's newsletter and join our 25 Jan 25 New Year's Dialogue Day in #Innsbruck at 2k meters above sea level.