BirdLife's vision on the CAP "New challenges, new CAP"
 C H Gomersall/RSPB Images
BirdLife's 'Farming for Life' Campaign aims to help change farming practises in the EU
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The CAP was not designed to tackle the challenges agriculture and land management face in the 21st century: continuing biodiversity decline, water pollution and unsustainable abstraction, soil degradation, accelerating climate change and an ever-increating demand for food, fuel and energy.
In spite of recent reforms that have reduced the negative impacts of the CAP, land management is in an environmental crisis across the continent. The accession of twelve new Member States, still immensely rich in high nature value farming and farmland biodiversity, gives further urgence to the need to address the environmental sustainability of the European countryside.
Further reform is therefore necessary if the EU is to support sustainable agriculture and rural communities and meet its environmental goals and commitments. "New challenges, new CAP" outlines BirdLife International's vision for the future of the Common Agricultural Policy and makes the following key recommendations:
- Establish a sustainable land management and rural development policy.
Create a new sustainable land management and rural policy for Europe, building on the current Rural Development Regulation, but targeted at environmental sustainability, with support for land management based on the principle of public money for public goods. - Dedicate public money to public goods.
Ensure that this policy is sufficiently funded through progressive modulation, towards an end goal of all EU public spending on agriculture being channelled through one instrument that is wholly committed to the delivery of public goods. - Fund the Natura 2000 network.
Use targeted agri-environment schemes and Natura 2000 payments to ensure the Natura 2000 network of protected areas is sufficiently funded and appropriately managed. - Support High Natural Value farmland.
Put in place adequate EU policies and funding for the maintenance of high nature value farmland, whose continued management is necessary for the survival of farmland birds and other biodiversity. - Improve Rural Development.
Improve the quality of rural development and agri-environment schemes so that they deliver their environmental objectives. - Adapt to and mitigate climate change.
Create the policy framework to ensure that EU agriculture reduces its own greenhouse gas emissions and contributes to mitigation through sustainable bioenergy; ecosystems resilience needs to be a key objective of this policy, in order to help both society and wildlife to adapt to climate change.
Ariel Brunner
EU Agriculture Policy Officer
ariel.brunner@birdlife.org
Sponsored by:
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The Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB)
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Vogelbescherming Nederland
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