Countdown 2010

Agriculture and Biodiversity

Agriculture and Biodiversity

Agricultural practices have shaped much of Europe’s biodiversity over the past millennium, creating many important habitats, such as semi-natural grasslands, for European species. However over the last 50 years agricultural practices, especially within the European Union, have been intensifying through production-oriented policies that strive for ever increasing efficiency. Currently agriculture accounts for over 40% of all land use in Europe (around 5 million km2) and about 50% of the entire budget of the European Union through the Common Agricultural Policy.

The prevailing agricultural policies in Europe have resulted in:

These practices have led to the removal or modification of important habitats such as wetlands, and a reduction in suitable habitat and food for many farmland species. European farmland birds are some of the best monitored species in the world – they have shown alarming declines over the past 40 years. In general birds have decreased by around a third, with some species decreasing by as much as 75%. Birds provide useful indicators of the state of other biodiversity and so their declines are likely to be associated with declines in insect and plant diversity.

Intensive agriculture is less developed in Central and Eastern European countries and as a result these countries house great stores of biodiversity associated with semi-natural lands. However increasing economic development and membership of 8 central European countries into the EU in 2004 and another 2 in 2007 could have severe implications for their farmland biodiversity. Therefore there is a need to ensure that the new EU member states use membership as an opportunity for powerful nature protection and integrated conservation and rural development to maintain the rich biodiversity in these countries.

The CAP has been through two rounds of reforms (1992, 2003) and is currently being further reformed for 2007. The reforms are improving the position of biodiversity in many ways, primarily as they move away from providing production-related subsidies, which favoured over-intensive use of land and the creation of large farms. Now farmers will no longer be paid by the amount of crops they produce or animals they hold, but instead will receive a single area-based payment. There has also been a small increase in the payments made to rural development. In the continuing reforms of the Common Agricultural Policy, there is a need to maintain the profile of rural development and agri-environmental schemes to ensure sufficient funds are allocated to the protection of Europe’s cultural and natural heritage.

Land abandonment

Land abandonment is especially prevalent in Central and Eastern Europe, and is a complex issue that has different impacts on biodiversity depending on the type of agriculture that is being abandoned. Generally abandoning low intensity extensive farmlands leads to a decrease in biodiversity. However abandoning intensive farmlands can increase the presence of species. Much of the farmland biodiversity relies on a level of land management, such as the maintenance of stone walls and mowing/grazing of grasslands, to maintain suitable conditions for species.

Changes in the socio-economic conditions within a country and the increase in incentives to move to urban areas or change extensive agricultural practices, have led to a lot of farmland being abandoned. The decline of extensive land management results in the general encroachment of bush and forest species, forest plantations or invasive species.

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