Ecological Programs · Programme II
Habitat Restoration
Evidence-based restoration of pollinator habitats across agricultural, urban, and semi-natural landscapes
in alignment with EU Regulation 2024/1991, Articles 4, 10, and 11
The Habitat Imperative
Monitoring reveals the scale of decline. Restoration determines whether recovery is possible. The two programmes are inseparable: monitoring without restoration generates data without remedy; restoration without monitoring generates action without accountability. More than 80% of habitats across the EU are currently in poor or unfavourable condition — the result of decades of agricultural intensification, land-use conversion, and nitrogen deposition. In Belgium, 75% of biodiversity in Flemish grasslands is at risk, driven primarily by chronic nitrogen loading from intensive agricultural activity. Reversing these trends requires targeted, science-directed habitat interventions at landscape scale.
Why Pollinators Are a Proxy for Habitat Health
Wild pollinators are among the most habitat-sensitive organisms in temperate ecosystems. Approximately 70% of wild bee species nest below ground, requiring structurally intact, low-disturbance soils — conditions eliminated by deep tillage and compaction. Floral resource availability, nesting substrate quality, and landscape connectivity all directly govern abundance and species richness. A restored habitat that supports thriving pollinator populations is, by extension, a habitat that supports soil microbiota, seed dispersers, insectivorous birds, and the full cascade of dependent organisms. Pollinators do not just benefit from restoration — they are its most reliable indicator.
The Scale of Loss — Belgium and Europe
Conservation Status of Protected Habitat Groups in Belgium — EU Habitats Directive Assessment
Conservation status assessed under EU Habitats Directive 92/43/EEC reporting cycle. Belgian data: biodiversity.europa.eu/countries/belgium. EU agricultural habitat data: Environmental Evidence systematic map protocol (2022). Grassland and heathland estimates represent the unfavourable-inadequate and unfavourable-bad categories combined.
Priority Habitat Types for Pollinator Restoration
Selection Criteria
Habitat prioritisation follows the EU Nature Restoration Regulation Annex I taxonomy and the EU Habitat Action Plans framework. Priority is assigned to habitats with the highest pollinator dependency, the worst conservation trajectory, and the greatest restoration potential per unit investment. Belgium's Natura 2000 network designates these habitats for protection — but designation without active management does not restore function.
Semi-Natural Dry Grasslands
Festuco-Brometalia — Annex I Habitat Type 6210
Among Europe's most species-rich ecosystems per square metre. Host exceptional wild bee, butterfly, and hoverfly diversity. Require low-intensity grazing or annual mowing to prevent scrub encroachment. Subject to a dedicated EU Habitat Action Plan (2024).
EU Habitat Action Plan 2024 Critical PrioritySpecies-Rich Meadows
Arrhenatherion / Cynosurion — Annex I Types 6510, 6520
Lowland hay meadows and mountain meadows providing abundant floral resources across the growing season. Historically widespread in Belgium; now reduced to fragmented remnants. Restoration via late-mowing regimes and elimination of synthetic fertiliser inputs.
NRR Article 4 & 11Heathlands
Calluno-Ulicetea — Annex I Habitat Type 4030
Open, acidic landscapes supporting specialist pollinator communities including mining bees dependent on bare soil patches. Threatened by nitrogen deposition, fire exclusion, and agricultural encroachment. EU Dry Heath Habitat Action Plan published in 2024.
EU Habitat Action Plan 2024 Severe Decline in BelgiumHedgerows & Bocage Landscapes
Agricultural landscape features — NRR Art. 11 Indicator
Structurally complex agricultural boundaries providing nesting sites, overwintering cover, and corridor connectivity between habitat patches. The NRR Article 11 explicitly requires an increasing share of agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features.
NRR Art. 11 TargetWildflower Field Margins
Agri-environment scheme habitats — CAP Strategic Plans
Sown or naturally regenerating margins around arable fields providing critical forage corridors. The EU RestPoll project (Horizon-funded, 2024–ongoing) is developing and testing evidence-based restoration measures specifically for agricultural landscapes across Europe.
RestPoll / HorizonUrban Green Infrastructure
Urban ecosystems — NRR Art. 6 (No net loss from 2030)
Urban parks, green roofs, and desealed surfaces supporting urban pollinator populations. NRR Article 6 prohibits net loss of urban green space and tree cover from 2030. Restoration in urban zones links to municipal obligations under National Restoration Plans.
NRR Art. 6 Municipal RelevanceOur Restoration Methodology
Evidence-Based Practice
All restoration interventions deployed by the Save the Bees Foundation are grounded in peer-reviewed evidence from applied ecology. We draw on the EU RestPoll project (Horizon Europe, 2024–2027) — the most comprehensive current European programme for developing and field-testing habitat restoration measures in agricultural landscapes — and the EEA's 2025 synthesis on protecting and restoring wild pollinator habitats. Restoration sites are selected using spatial data from the BeeWorld monitoring layer, targeting locations where absence signals correlate with habitat deficiency rather than seasonal absence.
Late-Mowing Regimes
Delaying mowing until after peak flowering (post-July) preserves foraging resources and allows ground-nesting species to complete their lifecycle before disturbance.
↑ Bee abundance & richnessWildflower Strip Establishment
Sowing native, locally-sourced seed mixes along field margins and roadsides. Staggered bloom phenology extends forage availability from March through October.
↑ Floral diversity; ↑ foraging rangeHedgerow Restoration
Replanting and managing native shrub species (Crataegus, Prunus spinosa, Salix) to restore landscape connectivity and nesting cover across fragmented agricultural zones.
↑ Corridor connectivityReduced Tillage Protocols
Minimising deep soil disturbance in fields adjacent to restored margins, protecting the nesting chambers of ground-nesting bees which can persist up to one metre below surface.
↑ Ground-nesting bee survivalUrban Desealing & Green Roofs
Converting impermeable urban surfaces to flowering vegetation and supporting municipal urban nature plans under NRR Article 6. Integrated into municipal National Restoration Plan obligations.
↑ Urban pollinator densityGIS-Targeted Site Selection
Using BeeWorld's Sanctuary Map data layer to identify spatial absence clusters, cross-referenced with soil type, land use, and pesticide application data to direct restoration effort where ecological return is highest.
↑ Intervention efficiencyRestoration Evidence — Belgian Living Planet Report
The first Living Planet Report Belgium (1990–2018) documented that ambitious nature restoration projects — including those in the Scheldt basin in Flanders — demonstrably improved biodiversity outcomes. Species of wetlands and open natural environments showed measurable recovery where active habitat management was applied. The report also confirmed the inverse: species in agricultural environments remained in dramatic decline where no restoration intervention occurred. Restoration works. But it must be resourced, spatially targeted, and continuously monitored to confirm efficacy.
Belgian Biodiversity Platform / Natagora / WWF / Natuurpunt (2021). Living Planet Report Belgium 1990–2018. biodiversity.be
Binding Restoration Targets — NRR 2024/1991
| Article | Obligation | Deadline |
|---|---|---|
| Art. 4 | Restore Annex I habitat types currently in unfavourable condition. Priority to Natura 2000 sites in first phase. No deterioration of habitats already in good condition. | 2030 (20%), 2040 (60%), 2050 (90%) |
| Art. 6 | No net loss of urban green space or tree canopy cover. Achieve increasing trend in urban green space from 2030 onward under National Restoration Plans. | From 2030 |
| Art. 10 | Reverse decline of pollinator populations by 2030; achieve increasing trend thereafter. Requires deployment of EU-PoMS monitoring methodology by December 2026. | 2030 (reversal) / Dec 2026 (monitoring) |
| Art. 11 | Enhance agricultural ecosystem indicators including: grassland butterfly index, organic carbon in cropland soils, share of agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features, and farmland bird index. | Increasing trend from 2030 |
| Art. 14 | Member States must define scientifically-determined satisfactory levels for pollinator populations, agricultural indicators, forest indicators, and urban green space in their National Restoration Plans. | 2030 |
Belgium's Compliance Gap
Belgium abstained in the June 2024 Council vote on the NRR — yet is fully bound by the regulation under EU law. As of 2025, Belgium has no finalised National Restoration Plan, no operational pollinator monitoring infrastructure, and no publicly documented framework for meeting the Article 4 area-based habitat restoration targets. The December 2026 EU-PoMS deadline and the 2030 habitat restoration milestone are both active legal obligations for which Belgium currently lacks implementation capacity. The Save the Bees Foundation's monitoring and habitat restoration programmes are designed explicitly to contribute to closing this gap — providing municipalities and regional authorities with the data and on-the-ground delivery they need to demonstrate compliance.
Restoration Timeline — Key Milestones
18 August 2024
NRR Enters into Force — Habitat Restoration Obligations Active
Articles 4, 6, 10, 11 legally binding on all 27 Member States. National Restoration Plans must be submitted to the European Commission.
2024
EU Habitat Action Plans for Dry Calcareous Grasslands and Dry Heathlands Published
European Commission publishes prioritised action frameworks for Annex I habitats 6210 and 4030 — both critical for Belgian pollinator conservation. LIFE Preparatory Projects funding opened for implementation.
December 2026 ← ACTIVE DEADLINE
EU-PoMS Deployment Required — Monitoring Enables Restoration Verification
Without operational monitoring, restoration interventions cannot be verified against the NRR's legally binding recovery targets. Monitoring and restoration are co-dependent obligations.
2030
20% Habitat Restoration Target — First Assessment
Article 4: 20% of EU terrestrial habitats in unfavourable condition must be under active restoration. Article 10: pollinator population decline must demonstrably have reversed. Article 11: increasing trends required for all agricultural ecosystem indicators.
2040 → 2050
Progressive Habitat Coverage — 60% → 90%
Full-cycle restoration obligation reaching 90% of habitats in unfavourable condition by 2050. Long-term trajectory established now through monitoring baselines and initial restoration interventions.
European Commission (2024). Regulation (EU) 2024/1991 on nature restoration. Articles 4, 6, 10, 11, 14. eur-lex.europa.eu
European Environment Agency (2025). Protecting and restoring Europe's wild pollinators and their habitats. eea.europa.eu. [70% ground-nesting wild bees; Tschantz et al. 2024, 2025.]
NGI / CERAC (2025). Overview of the Status and Trends of Biodiversity Loss in Belgium. [75% Flemish grassland biodiversity at risk.]
Maes, D. et al. (2022–2025). Red Lists for butterflies, hoverflies, macro-moths, and wild bees in Flanders. INBO, Brussels. inbo.be
Environmental Evidence (2022). Effect of European grassland management practices on biodiversity. DOI: 10.1186/s13750-022-00280-0. [76% agricultural habitats unfavourable.]
Belgian Biodiversity Platform / Natagora / WWF / Natuurpunt (2021). Living Planet Report Belgium 1990–2018. biodiversity.be/5424
biodiversity.europa.eu (2024). Belgium — Conservation Status of Protected Habitats. EU Habitats Directive reporting. biodiversity.europa.eu/countries/belgium
IEEP (2024). EU Habitat Action Plans for Dry Calcareous Grasslands (6210) and European Dry Heaths (4030). ieep.eu
RestPoll Project (2024–2027). Horizon Europe — habitat restoration in agricultural landscapes. environment.ec.europa.eu
Tschantz, P. et al. (2024). Soil tillage impacts on ground-nesting wild bees. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 375. DOI: 10.1016/j.agee.2024.109224
Tschantz, P. et al. (2025). Ground-nesting bees as soil ecosystem engineers. Basic and Applied Ecology 84, 92–100. DOI: 10.1016/j.baae.2025.02.003