important plant areas in central and eastern europe - hirc.botanic.hr ...

Section 7ReferencesBirdlife International, (www.birdlife.organd www.birdlifecapcampaign.org)2004, Birdlife International’s vision for ruralEurope. 2002, CAP Reform Proposals: a tenpoint plan for radical reform of the CAP.European Commission CAP Reformwebsite,(www.europa.eu.int/comm/agriculture/capreform)European Environment Agency agriculturesection, (www.themes.eea.eu.int/Sectors_and_activities/agriculture)Ministry of Agriculture, Nature and FoodQuality,The Netherlands, 2005, LandAbandonment, Biodiversity and theCommon Agricultural Policy (CAP)IPAs and Agricultural PolicyContextThe negative effects on plant diversity of the intensive, high production farming of theEU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) have been acknowledged for many years. Europeis now entering a transition period where much of the high nature value farmland of theCEE will be managed under the EU CAP system.Although there have been somereforms of the system, there is still a long way to go to ensure that socio-economic andbiodiversity needs are balanced with agricultural production to ensure a healthy andsustainable rural Europe.There is an urgent need to ensure that the biodiversity-rich farmlands and the ruralcommunities of CEE are not devalued in the same way as those of western Europe.Reform of the EU CAPThe BirdLife International review of EU Rural Development policy highlights theinconsistencies of the system proposed in the reform of 2003.The proposed systemseparates agricultural production from rural communities, has no requirement fortargeted, objective-lead agri-environment schemes, and has a complex, overlappingsystem of payments which do not cover the true costs of delivering the EU’scommitment to halting the loss of biodiversity by 2010.50% of the EU budget is spent on agriculture. Rural Development takes only 10% of thattotal budget.Agri-environment schemes are only one part of many different areascompeting for Rural Development funding.The schemes are funded using nationallydefined criteria, which are not required to include conservation of biodiversity, nor arethey required to meet clear objectives, or to provide monitoring indicators of theirsuccess in conserving biodiversity.IPAs and agriculture444 IPAs (56%) contain threatened grassland habitats, and 296 IPAs (37%) containpriority threatened grassland habitats.232 IPAs (29%) are threatened by agricultural intensification (grazing, arable, mixed,horticultural)217 IPAs (27%) are threatened by land abandonmentBRANO MOLNARGrasslands are home to much of Europe’sspecies diversity. High Nature Value areasshould be brought under biodiversitysensitive management and targeted forfunding.98