Transcript Document

The future CAP: The issue of equivalence true greening or greenwashing?
Kaley Hart
10 April 2013
Sealing the deal on a greener CAP?
EEB Conference, Croke Park Conference Centre, Dublin
www.ieep.eu
@IEEP_eu
The policy context
• The EU’s environmental challenge:
– Irrefutable evidence on the EU’s existing
environmental deficit
– Climate change likely to exacerbate the situation
• Important role for EU agriculture:
Ben Allen
– Maintain existing beneficial practices;
– Prevent damaging practices and environmental
deterioration
– Enhance and restore habitats where these have
been lost
• Issue of scale:
– Small scale changes are no longer enough – a step
change is needed
– Pillar 1 action critical as a foundation for
appropriate management on which Pillar 2
measures (esp. agri-environment) can build.
2
Natural England
Greening measures as proposed in Oct 2011
Measure
Detailed requirements – as stated in proposals
- 3 different crops to be grown on arable land over 3 ha.
Crop diversification
-
Permanent grassland
-
None of the three crops shall cover less than 5 % of the arable land and
the main one shall not exceed 70 % of the arable land
Maintain 95 per cent of the area of permanent grassland on the
holding as declared in 2014
7 per cent of the holding (excluding permanent grassland) must be
managed as ecological focus areas
The 7 per cent can be made up of different elements, including:
o Land left fallow
Ecological Focus Area
o Terraces
o Landscape features, eg hedges; ponds; ditches; trees in a line, in a
group or isolated; field margins;
o Buffer strips – with no production on them;
o Areas afforested with funding from EAFRD
Details still needed on:
3
– Precise objectives
– Likely impacts
Flexibility and equivalence – the study
• Member State flexibility to determine how to apply
greening - ongoing debate
• Potential for certification schemes and agrienvironment measures to be deemed ‘equivalent’ to
the Commission’s greening proposals for the new CAP
• Broad brush review of existing
‘equivalence’ in 5 countries:
France, Ireland, the
Netherlands, Poland, Spain
4
• Key findings
• Conclusions and implications
Assessing equivalence
• A challenge to achieve in a robust, meaningful and transparent way.
• Judging equivalence of practices
– fairly straightforward for the permanent grassland and crop diversification measures.
– More difficult for EFAs as comprises 2 distinct elements – an area target and a menu of
options.
• Assessing equivalence of impact
–
–
–
–
even more complex
Requires clear objectives
environmental impacts differ geographically depending on many factors
For EFAs – question of what one is measuring equivalence against, given the range of
different permutations of options from the proposed menu that could be in place on
different farms.
• Considerable implications for:
– designing a formal process for assessing equivalence
– inspection regimes; and
– payment rates for agri-environment schemes.
5
Characterising certification schemes
6
Environmental
management
Sustainable Use of
Natural Resources
Climate change
Traditional products
/ methods
Origin and specific
production:
1
environment
Crop Production
Livestock / meat
production
2
17
6
18
26
67
Integrated crop
management
France
Ireland
Netherlands
Spain
Total
Organic
No of schemes
• 67 certification schemes with an environmental component were screened in
France, Ireland, the Netherlands and Spain (7 = organic).
• No readily available up to date information was found on Poland.
• Up to four schemes (excluding organic) were investigated in more detail in
each country
1
2
2
2
7
2
1
1
15
19
4
0
10
3
17
3
1
4
3
11
0
0
4
0
4
5
0
0
8
13
11
2
0
9
22
15
5
8
19
47
12
4
10
15
41
EFA: 7% of the eligible area to be made up of a combination of the following
France
Agri Confiance
Reviewed: All basic
level requirements for
agri-environment
schemes in France,
Ireland, the
Netherlands, Poland
and Spain.
- Practices
- Impacts
7
PG
Buffer strip
Wildflower strip
Trees (single,
line, group)
Strip of seed
bearing plants
Stone Walls
Terrace
Ditch
Ponds
Hedge
CD
√
CEE Level 2
CEE Haute Valeur
Environnementale
(level 3)
Agriculture Raisonée
AREA
Ireland
Bord Bia - Quality
Assurance Scheme Beef
Bord Bia - Horticulture
Quality Assurance
Scheme
Irish Grain Assurance
Scheme
The Netherlands
Graskeurmerk
The Skylark initiative
MPS Fruit and
Vegetables
Milieukeur
Spain
Naturane
Producción Integrada
(Galicia)
Producción Integrada
de la Rioja/Público de
tercera parte
Producción Integrada
en Andalucía
Afforested areas
Fallow
Equivalence of
Certification
Schemes
Uncultivated
patches
Semi-natural
patches
elements:
√
√
10% of farmed area to be defined as managed as an agro-ecological area
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
~
~
~
~
√
√
√
√
√
√
~
√
√
- Practices
- Impacts
8
France
PHAE – Extensive
grazing systems
Diversification of
arable crop rotations
Ireland
Protect/maintain
watercourses,
waterbodies etc
Retain wildlife
habitats
Maintain farm and
field boundaries
Buffer strips around
historic features
Tillage crops respect
envl principles
The Netherlands
Meadow bird options
Arable areas and field
edges
Landscape options
Poland
Sustainable
Agriculture
Extensive Permanent
Grassland
Buffer Strips
Spain
Basque Country
Castilla y Leon
Madrid
Andalucia
Aragón
Asturias
Castilla la Mancha
Catalunya
La Rioja
Murcia
Navarra
Valencia
CD
PG
Buffer strip
Trees (single,
line, group)
Strip of seed
bearing plants
Wildflower
strip
Stone Walls
Terrace
Ditch
Ponds
Hedge
Uncultivated
patches
Semi-natural
patches
Afforested
areas
Equivalence of agrienvironment
scheme practices
Fallow
EFA - 7% of the eligible area to be made up of a combination of the
following elements:
√
~
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
Maintain all landscape features
~
Maintain all landscape features
Maintain all landscape features
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
~
~
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
√
~
~
√
√
√
~
~
Implications…
• The concept of equivalence sounds like a reasonable and
practical approach in theory…
• … but there are significant practical issues with its application in
practice.
• For certification schemes, new schemes would need to be
developed given lack of ‘off the shelf’ equivalents.
• For agri-environment schemes, few farmers likely to deliver all
greening requirements through current agreements. Mix and
match approach? Implications for payment rates?
• These could lead to greater administrative complexity and cost for Member States and the Commission
• For what additional environmental benefit?
9
© Andy Hay
© BirdLife (Stefan Benko)
Last chance to achieve real greening…
• The coming weeks are critical to get
greening right so that it delivers meaningful
outcomes in practice – not just more of the
same.
• Urgent need to think through the issues that
equivalence raises and find solutions that
secure additional environmental benefits
and simplify rather than over-complicate
the future delivery of environmental
outcomes from agriculture.
• Now is the last chance for the EU to
demonstrate leadership in re-focussing
agricultural support towards public goods –
this opportunity should not be squandered.
10
Mark Redman
Pille Koorberg
Thank you for your attention
For further information on the future CAP debate visit www.cap2020.ieep.eu
AND
IEEP’s web-site for Publications, News and Newsletter on all dimensions of EU
environmental policy
www.ieep.eu
www.ieep.eu
@IEEP_eu