The European Parliament in the French city of Strasbourg is to vote on Wednesday on the so-called Nature Restoration Law.
The law, which would enable previously forested areas to be restored and peatlands to be rewetted, is supposed to make the EU more resilient in the face of global warming.
But this has proved divisive and critics are demanding that EU legislators completely rewrite the law.
Farmers’ associations and conservative politicians from all over Europe have complained that farmers would be too restricted by protective measures, which would also have negative impact on the supply of food.
On Tuesday, Swedish climate activist, Greta Thunberg, weighed in on the controversy surrounding the proposed nature conservation law.
“Our message to the politicians is to choose nature, to choose people, over profit and greed,’’ she said at a demonstration at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
Multiple EU legislators from socialist, green and left-wing groups in the European Parliament joined Thunberg’s protest.
On the other side, farmers with tractors responded to a call by the European farmers’ association, Copa-Cogeca and demonstrated against the nature conservation law in front of the parliament.
If the vote produces no majority in favour of the project on Wednesday, a foundation of the EU’s climate neutrality targets could be eroded. (dpa/NAN)