Scienza, incertezza e decisione regolatoria: il caso del Regolamento UE sul Ripristino della Natura

This chapter examines how the European Commission ad- dresses scientific evidence in policymaking, using the EU Nature Restoration Regulation (2024/1991) as a case study. We analyse how the Commission’s commitment to evidence-based policy- making confronts challenges in translating ecological complexity into legally binding indicators. Drawing on an analysis of impact assessment documents, we identify three forms of uncertainty – intrinsic, epistemic, and operational – that shape the selection and standardisation of ecological indicators. The essay shows how these processes involve epistemically non-neutral choices and contribute to stabilising specific representations of ecosy- stems for regulatory purposes. It further highlights the tensions between a predominantly top-down, cost-benefit-oriented ap- proach and emerging efforts to acknowledge uncertainty, legiti- macy, and communicability of scientific choices, offering insights into the challenges of governing under conditions of complexity.