It was with huge pride that we introduced the results of our 5-year empirical study, funded by the European Research Council, examining the effectiveness of the EU’s nature governance laws in three Member States over a 23-year period from 1992, the date of adoption of the EU’s flagship nature law, the Habitats Directive. Using novel and complementary methodologies, including the coding of over 6,000 nature governance laws, over 2000 surveys and interviews across France, Ireland and the Netherlands, and a behavioural economics lab experiment, we show how nature governance laws have evolved over time, how they have been used in practice, and how this has impacted landowners compliance decisions. Our findings point to practical ways in which nature governance laws might be made more effective – please see the Policy Makers Handbook – Effective Nature Laws for more.