The Nature Restoration Regulation is now European law. National Restoration Plans are being written. The targets are set. So why does transformative, large-scale ecological restoration remain so stubbornly difficult to achieve, and what would it actually take to make it happen everywhere, not just in flagship protected areas?

That question sat at the heart of a panel discussion held in Brussels in March 2026, at a joint event bringing together the EU Horizon projects MERLIN, WaterLANDS, SpongeScapes and SpongeWorks. Moderated by Ellis Penning of SpongeScapes, the panel brought together Anders Iversen and Willem Jan Goossen from the European Commission, Craig Bullock of WaterLANDS, and Sebastian Birk, coordinator of MERLIN, fresh from four years overseeing freshwater restoration work across 18 sites in very different corners of Europe.