{"id":462090,"date":"2026-08-10T17:30:38","date_gmt":"2026-08-10T15:30:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/2026\/08\/10\/oltre-600-000-cittadini-chiedono-allue-di-difendere-le-leggi-sulla-natura-mentre-leuropa-brucia\/"},"modified":"2026-08-10T17:59:30","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T15:59:30","slug":"over-600000-citizens-are-calling-on-the-eu-to-defend-nature-conservation-laws-while-europe-burns","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/2026\/08\/10\/over-600000-citizens-are-calling-on-the-eu-to-defend-nature-conservation-laws-while-europe-burns\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 600,000 citizens are calling on the EU to defend nature conservation laws while Europe burns"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brussels \u2013 \u201cThe devastating wildfires continue to highlight the urgent need to protect nature,\u201d and for this reason the European Commission must use the review of EU environmental protection laws \u201cto ensure that existing legislation is fully enforced and funded, rather than weakened.\u201d This is the warning<\/a> of the #HandsOffNature<\/a> campaign launched in September 2025 and promoted by a coalition of four European environmental organisations\u2014BirdLife Europe<\/a>, ClientEarth<\/a>, the European Environment Agency <\/a>and the European office of the WWF<\/a>. Today (10 August) marked the end of the Commission\u2019s public consultation on the future of the Birds <\/a> and Habitat<\/a> directives, and 600.000 citizens<\/a> have signed the coalition\u2019s petition calling on the Commission to do more to defend EU nature protection laws.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

The review, also known as t<\/span>he European Commission\u2019s \u201cstress test\u201d<\/strong>, is an effectiveness assessment and simplification<\/strong> of the two Directives, regarded as the regulatory pillars of biodiversity conservation and Natura 2000<\/a>, a network of ecological areas spread across all Member States, established to protect natural habitats and rare or threatened animal and plant species. Between 12 May and 10 August 2026, an open public consultation was held to assess whether the two pieces of legislation were effectively achieving their environmental protection objectives, while identifying opportunities to reduce the bureaucratic and administrative burdens on businesses, farmers, and Member States. 
According to the coalition, if the Commission intends to \u201creduce administrative burdens,\u201d it cannot \u201cregard environmental protection measures as \u2018red tape\u2019 to be eliminated.\u201d<\/strong> In 2016, the standards were assessed as “fit for purpose” by the fitness check<\/a> as they \u201chelp to protect forests, wetlands, rivers and habitats that provide clean water, healthy soils, and resilience against climate-related risks, such as forest fires, floods, and droughts.\u201d Therefore, they should not be weakened, as they are \u201cessential protective measures\u201d for both people and nature. 
In a press release, the four organisations pointed out that European citizens also want more effective measures in terms of environmental protection<\/a>. In particular, one of the latest surveys by Eurostat<\/a>, the EU\u2019s statistical office, shows that almost all Europeans (96 per cent) believe it is important to halt the loss of biodiversity, and 95 per cent recognise that human health and well-being depend on healthy ecosystems. 
\u201cThe Commission\u2019s \u2018stress test\u2019 must not become an excuse to weaken environmental protections,\u201d the coalition reiterated in a press release. While \u201cEurope faces another summer of extreme heat, wildfires, and drought, weakening the laws that protect our forests, wetlands, and wildlife would be reckless and deeply irresponsible,\u201d<\/strong> it concluded.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Commission\u2019s public consultation on the future of the Birds and Habitats Directives closed today. A coalition of environmental organisations, including the WWF, has called on the Commission to do more to uphold EU environmental protection legislation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7908,"featured_media":462084,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"episode_type":"","audio_file":"","podmotor_file_id":"","podmotor_episode_id":"","cover_image":"","cover_image_id":"","duration":"","filesize":"","filesize_raw":"","date_recorded":"","explicit":"","block":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"format":"standard","override":[{"template":"1","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"0","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","post_calculate_word_method":"str_word_count","show_zoom_button":"0","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","show_comment_section":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"0","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","disable_ad":"0","subtitle":""},"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_override_counter":{"view_counter_number":"0","share_counter_number":"0","like_counter_number":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25709],"tags":[25871,29523,29452,35245,35246,31425,35247,27034,35248,35249,33495],"class_list":["post-462090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agrifood-en","tag-directive-birds-en","tag-societa-civile-en","tag-client-earth","tag-direttiva-habitat","tag-eurostat-en-2","tag-natura-2000","tag-law-nature-en","tag-stress-test","tag-ufficio-europeo-ambiente","tag-wwf"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7908"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=462090"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462090\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":462091,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/462090\/revisions\/462091"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/462084"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=462090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=462090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.eunews.it\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=462090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}