The Natural Restoration Law was approved by the European Parliament following a down-to-the-wire vote today.
MEPs voted to support the general outline of the European Commission's Nature Restoration Law (NRL).
The vote was tight with 324 voting in favour and 312 against with 12 abstentions.
Read More: Nature Restoration Law: 'No one is going to steal farmers' land' says Irish MEP
The biggest party in the EU, the EPP, was in staunch opposition to NRL. However many member MEPs voted against the party, including all the Fine Gael MEPs.
The bill is a key part of the EU's European Green Deal which seeks to make the bloc a global leader on climate and biodiversity.
With the NRL, the European Commission wants to set binding restoration targets for specific habitats and species.
The aim is to have at least 20 per cent of the region's lands and seas restored to nature by 2030.
Minister of State for Heritage and Electoral Reform, Malcolm Noonan welcomed the vote today calling it a "great day for nature, for society and for our collective future".
"This wouldn’t have been possible without the tireless and passionate efforts of so many across the EU and at home in Ireland," he said.
He added that nature restoration would only happen "with the full support of the farming, forestry and fishing communities who own and/or manage our lands and seas".
Although NRL was passed however, the vote was immediately followed by over 100 more - amendments to make the bill more malleable.
These included voting to delay the implementation of NRL until after a review on the EU's long-term food security was conducted. An article on the original NRL that included restoration targets on farms, including peatlands, was deleted.
Many targets and obligations were weakened from the original proposal by the European Commission.
Nature Conservation lawyer at ClientEarth, Ioannis Agapakis said the law had been "ransacked by the vested interests of many of our lawmakers and we've been left with a shell of a law.
"Today’s vote should have been about securing a pathway to restore our environment for the future survival of people and the planet.
"Instead, the outcome of the vote means citizens have been left to defend a law that we fear will be profoundly inadequate to tackle the urgent biodiversity and climate crises.
"Over a million citizens, civil society, businesses and scientists demanded more of their decision-makers – today's vote shows the European Parliament shied away from meeting those demands."
