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Farm aid tied to meeting EU’s biodiversity needs

Farm aid tied to meeting EU’s biodiversity needs

European Commission’s environment department will attempt to set out better protection for species and habitats threatened with over-exploitation and extinction.

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A sweeping new regime for protecting nature in Europe, drafted by Janez Potocnik, the European commissioner for the environment, would force farmers and fishermen to co-operate with governments in the struggle to promote and restore biodiversity.  

In a policy paper, scheduled for publication on 4 May, the European Commission’s environment department will attempt to set out better protection for species and habitats threatened with over-exploitation and extinction.

National governments would be asked to come up with €6 billion to protect the EU’s ‘Natura 2000’ network of nature conservation sites, which cover around 18% of the EU landmass. Farmers would be required to step up environmental protection measures as a condition of receiving public subsidies and the fishing industry will face stricter catch limits.

EU legislation will also be drafted in 2012 to combat the menace of ‘invasive species’ such as American grey squirrels and Japanese knotweed.

According to the Commission, 42% of the continent’s mammals are endangered and 88% of fish stocks are overfished. The European Environment Agency has noted that species-rich grassland and undisturbed forests are in decline, while nitrate pollution and soil erosion remain problematic.

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Last year, it became clear that the EU had missed a target set in 2000 to halt biodiversity loss by 2010. In response, EU leaders endorsed a plan to extend the target to 2020, adding the goal that they should try to “restore” biodiversity as far as possible and “step up” the EU’s contribution to averting global biodiversity loss.

Potocnik paper’s spells out for the first time what these ambitions might mean in practice, but the proposals are likely to face stiff opposition from farming and fishing groups.

According to an official source, the paper will say that by 2020 60% of EU farmland should be subject to biodiversity protection. In order to qualify for EU agricultural subsidies, farmers would have to go far beyond the current rules of the Common Agriculture Policy, for example, by ensuring crop rotation and compliance with EU water law.

Forest management plans would also become compulsory for all woodland areas benefiting from public funds. These plans, drawn up at national level, would require foresters to leave a minimum area of the forest undisturbed, as well as imposing requirements to ensure a minimum of deadwood to provide homes for birds and animals.

Andreas Baumüller of WWF said that taking action would be far more important than deciding on the “nitty-gritty” of individual policies. “We have seen so many strategies. We have had a lot of lip service, but the political will was not there.”

He called on government leaders, as well as agriculture and fisheries ministers to endorse the plans, going beyond the usual sign-off by environment ministers. The next multiannual EU budget, due out in June, would be “an important indicator” of whether the political will to implement the strategy existed, he said.

The Commission’s call for the budget to include €6 billion each year to ensure adequate protection of the ‘Natura 2000’ network was widely accepted as necessary, said Baumüller. According to his calculations, this would work out at three eurocents per day for each EU citizen.

Alistair Taylor, EU biodiversity policy officer at Birdlife International, said that an EU law to combat invasive species was vital. The law should include a common procedure for listing alien animals and action to protect native species, he said. “At the moment protection is at the level of the weakest [country].”

Authors:
Jennifer Rankin