Towards a model law on ecological restoration

International environmental law has progressively evolved to recognize and articulate obligations concerning the restoration of degraded ecosystems. These obligations are embedded in several multilateral environmental agreements, including the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the Ramsar Convention, and are complemented by soft law instruments such as decisions of the Conference of the Parties (COP) and regional legal frameworks. The International Court of Justice confirmed the existence of a duty to restore in the Costa Rica v. Nicaragua case. Quantitative restoration targets have been put forward by the CBD Aichi Biodiversity Targets and, more recently, the Global Biodiversity Framework adopted in 2022. Despite this growing international attention, many of these instruments remain limited in scope, lacking concrete, measurable, and enforceable obligations. Their effective transposition into national legal systems is therefore indispensable for scaling up restoration efforts in line with the objectives of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration.

At the national level, restoration obligations are often narrowly framed, typically confined to offsetting requirements or liability regimes. Proactive obligations for governments to address historical degradation and to upscale restoration remain largely absent. This paper seeks to address this gap by introducing the essential elements of a model law on ecological restoration. The proposed framework draws on two sources. First, the EU Nature Restoration Regulation, adopted in 2024, which represents the first comprehensive and binding international legislation mandating proactive restoration. Secondly, this paper is based on a project, coordinated by the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), that aimed to develop a model law on ecological restoration.

The paper argues that an effective restoration law must include clear definitions, legal principles, recognition of rights, detailed restoration obligations, institutional frameworks, and mechanisms for implementation through planning, monitoring, and reporting. Enforcement provisions are equally critical to ensure compliance. Particular emphasis in this paper is placed on restoration obligations, which should form the normative core of any restoration legislation. By outlining these components, the paper contributes to the ongoing discourse on how international commitments can be operationalized at the national level in order to upscale ecological restoration.