At BirdLife, our commitment remains unwavering: we will continue to focus on the issues that matter most for birds, nature, and people. As 2025 unfolds, we will keep a close watch and work tirelessly to ensure that nature stays at the heart of the EU’s agenda.

In early 2025, the European Commission will launch its ‘Vision for Agriculture and Food’, a strategic roadmap that we hope will reflect the recommendations and agreements reached during the Strategic Dialogue on the future of EU agriculture. This unprecedented dialogue brought together environmental NGOs, including BirdLife, farmers’ unions, industry representatives, and policymakers, achieving a groundbreaking consensus on transforming the EU’s agri-food system. The vision is expected to outline key initiatives, including a Livestock Strategy, a generational renewal plan, sustainability benchmarking, and a proposal for the next Common Agricultural Policy.  

With the biodiversity and climate crises already gravely affecting farmers across the EU, it is essential that the EU’s agriculture policies drive meaningful transformation, strengthen resilience, and reduce environmental harm. 

For nature, 2024 ended on a sour note. The Standing Committee of the Bern Convention voted to lower the protection status of wolves. This decision ignores scientific evidence and threatens decades of conservation progress. While wolf populations have begun recovering from near extinction in Europe, six of nine populations remain in unfavourable conservation status. Downgrading their protection will not resolve conflicts with farmers and livestock but risks deepening social divides and undermining effective coexistence measures.  

By prioritising political pressure over evidence-based policymaking, this decision sets a troubling precedent. Implementing it will require amending the EU Habitats Directive, a cornerstone of Europe’s nature conservation framework. BirdLife will closely monitor this process to prevent further politically driven changes to this important law for nature. 

Fortunately, 2024 also brought significant wins, including the adoption of the long-awaited EU Nature Restoration Law. 2025 should be the year when the direction for its implementation is set, with the development of strong national nature restoration plans aligned with our recommendations for ambitious action. Governments, with the support of the Commission, must prioritise this process to ensure their restoration plans are timely, inclusive, and well-resourced. Additionally, they must ensure maximum coherence with policies from other sectors, such as agriculture and climate. This work is all the more urgent, as our latest report shows that the EU is not on track to halt ecosystem degradation, underscoring the critical need for bold and immediate action.  

The European Commission has yet to release its long-delayed proposal to restrict the use of lead in ammunition and fishing weights, initially due in May 2023. This dangerous delay allows harmful lead pollution to continue poisoning wildlife, endangering human health, contaminating water and soil, and putting pets and livestock at risk. Join us in urging the Commission to implement a strong restriction on lead use in hunting, shooting, and fishing to protect wildlife and human health.

The discussion on the future Multiannual Financial Framework will formally kick start in 2025, presenting a key opportunity to address the significant funding gap for biodiversity. BirdLife is calling for the creation of a dedicated nature fund to secure long-term, sufficient financing for nature protection and restoration, complementing existing funding initiatives like the LIFE programme. 

High stakes for the ocean in 2025! The Oceans Pact, announced by Commission President Von der Leyen in her political guidelines, will be officially released at the UN Ocean Conference in Nice. It’s vital that the Pact prioritises ecosystem health and provides a clear roadmap to restore the marine environment, with sufficient funding. We cannot restore ocean health while continuing to add pressure from ever-increasing human activities. Only by reducing this pressure and transforming the blue sectors can ecosystems regain their resilience. The Oceans Pact will be based on Fisheries and Ocean Dialogues, bringing together diverse ocean stakeholders. With the first session planned for February, BirdLife is preparing to advocate for the policy shifts needed, following the success of the agricultural Strategic Dialogues. 

In 2025, the Polish Presidency will work to bridge positions on the Forest Monitoring Law and aim to reach a final agreement with Member States. Meanwhile, the European Parliament is progressing with the proposal, with a joint draft report expected in February from the Agriculture and Environment Committees.  

Forests must be regarded as complex, interconnected ecosystems. It is essential to monitor biodiversity and forest ecosystem services—critical components that have been largely overlooked. The Forest Monitoring Law provides a vital framework to gather this knowledge, enabling decisive action to reverse the current poor health and unfavourable conservation status of EU forests while advancing our climate objectives. 

We will stay closely engaged with the legislative process to ensure the law is strong, effective, and aligned with our environmental goals. 

The EU must act swiftly to meet its climate goals by aiming for a 100% renewable energy target by 2040, as proposed by the ‘FitFor55’ and the RepowerEU packages. In 2025, BirdLife will continue advocating for an energy transition that works in harmony with nature. As new legislation is introduced to accelerate renewable energy permitting, Member States must ensure stronger involvement of NGOs, scientific experts, and citizens to ensure these changes not only minimise threats to nature but also maximise synergies with the Nature Restoration Law.  

In 2025, the EU must fully address its climate responsibilities. BirdLife urges the Commission’s EU Adaptation Plan to address the harsh realities of climate change. Climate inaction has led to extreme weather, harming lives, communities, and ecosystems. The Commission must ensure that EU policies and funding for all sectors are climate-resilient, and that nature plays a key role in reducing climate vulnerability. 

BirdLife calls for the prioritisation of natural ecosystem protection and restoration, which help both adapt to climate impacts and capture carbon. In its new climate target proposal, the Commission must ensure Member States commit to safeguarding natural carbon sinks and end fossil fuel subsidies, with a net-zero target by 2040. 

With stronger commitments and increased climate finance, the EU can credibly show progress at COP30 in Brazil’s Amazonia.