One argues that green measures are being misused, in some cases causing farming to become less green. The other finds that greening measures are costing more than they should because of ineffective or lax administration by member state governments.
'Greening” is the watchword of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2014-2020. But in a study published in the Journal de l’Environnement and reported in Euractiv, the NGOs European Environmental Bureau (EEB) and BirdLife Europe have found that payments under the second pillar of the CAP, intended for 'rural development', may be even less green than under the previous CAP, from 2007-2013.
Based on their calculations, 44% of the funds for the second pillar of the 2014-2020 CAP (around 20% of the total CAP budget) are dedicated to measures encouraging biodiversity. Yet nearly a third of these rural development subsidies, which come with no environmental or management requirements attached, go to inappropriate or inaccurately described areas (such as mountainous regions), where they serve only to fund the intensification of agricultural practices.
Of the 19 member states and regions analysed, 14 had cut their financing for environmental measures under the second pillar of the CAP. The quality of the measures was overstated in 79% of the cases looked at by the report’s authors.
A second report, by the European Court of Auditors (ECA), attacks the greening of the CAP on different grounds -- namely that it entails 'unreasonably high costs'. The auditors looked at EU-funded schemes to support environmentally-friendly agriculture in the UK, Italy, Denmark and Portugal.
Only 5 of the 28 audited projects proved to be cost-effective, and the issue may be more widespread, since the problems stemmed from “weaknesses in member states’ management and control systems”, the Court warned. Although the majority of the schemes contributed to landscape and biodiversity protection, the auditors emphasised that in 75% of the cases, the costs were 'either unreasonably high or insufficiently justified'.
Find more on Sustain's work on farming policiy here
Published Friday 19 February 2016
Sustain: Sustain The alliance for better food and farming advocates food and agriculture policies and practices that enhance the health and welfare of people and animals, improve the working and living environment, enrich society and culture and promote equity.
