This article examines the Nature Restoration Regulation (NRR) as the first European legislative act for the ecological restoration of entire ecosystems and uses the example of peatland soil protection to analyze how legal frameworks initiate, limit or mediate far-reaching transformations of land use. It shows that the ambitious EU targets for the rewetting of drained peatlands are in strong tension with the existing national legal framework, which is characterized by definitional ambiguities, a historically evolved privileging of drainage and considerable institutional fragmentation. Against this background, the article discusses the role of law in the sustainability transformation – as a brake, driver and mediator – and develops the initial outlines of a transformative law that goes beyond the mere administration of change to actively shape it. Finally, the question is discussed as to whether the implementation of the NRR requires a coherent national guiding law or can be achieved through selective adjustments, and which legislative, institutional and communicative requirements must be met in order to successfully implement peatland rewetting as a central component of climate and biodiversity protection.
