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Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
“The Federal Chancellor should do everything in her power to prevent the reform from being a failure,” recommends Prof. Karin Holm-Müller, deputy chair of the German Advisory Council on the Environment (SRU), on the occasion of its comment on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. Any failure would be a serious setback for biodiversity conservation and climate protection.
Today’s European Council debate on the “medium-term financial framework” will decide central aspects determining the future of the Common Agricultural Policy.
The matters at issue are the financial resources available for agricultural policy as a whole, the main conditions for direct payments to farmers, and – indirectly – the funding of agri-environmental programmes. In October 2011 the European Commission proposed a package of reforms that would tie the agricultural budget to environmental requirements. The European Parliament’s Agriculture Committee and numerous governments are seeking to substantially dilute these requirements.
In its comment on the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy, the SRU regards the 2011 reform proposals as an “important contribution to biodiversity conservation and climate protection”.
This applies in particular to the proposed environmental requirements for direct payments to farmers, the so-called “greening” proposals. Prof. Holm-Müller says:“These requirements are an essential and indispensable precondition for the billions paid to farmers in subsidies. Without substantial services in return, there is no justification whatever for maintaining the direct payments.” These indispensable environmental requirements include:
- the designation of 7 % of arable land as ecological focus area,
- a requirement to maintain permanent grassland, and
- the provisions on crop diversification.
Taken together, they safeguard minimum standards for the area as a whole. In the opinion of the SRU, the many different calls to water down these requirements need to be refused.
Furthermore, there is also a need for considerably better financial resources for targeted agri-environmental measures. These can be used on a locally focused and region-specific basis, and thus form an important supplement to the area-wide measures. The budget for agri-environmental programmes is particularly at risk, especially in view of the threatened cuts in the overall EU budget.
In its comment, the SRU makes it clear that the agricultural sector continues to be one of the main causes of biodiversity loss and excessive nutrient levels in soils and waters. Unless the trend is reversed, the German and European targets for biodiversity and climate protection will not be met.
The comment “Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy: Opportunities for Reorientation” can be downloaded in digital form from www.umweltrat.de or ordered from the SRU office.
For more information, call Dr. Christian Hey, Tel: +49 30 263696-0
For over forty years the SRU has been advising the German Federal Government on environmental policy issues. The Council is made up of seven professors from a range of different environment-related disciplines. This ensures an encompassing and independent evaluation from a natural scientific and technical point of view, as well as from an economic, legal, and political science perspective. The Council is a member of the network of European Environmental and Sustainable Development Advisory Councils (EEAC).
It currently has the following members:
Prof. Dr. Martin Faulstich (Chair), Clausthal University of Technology
Prof. Dr. Karin Holm-Müller (Deputy Chair), Rheinische Friedrich-Wilhelms-Universität Bonn
Prof. Dr. Harald Bradke, Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI, Karlsruhe
Prof. Dr. Christian Calliess, Freie Universität Berlin
Prof. Dr. Heidi Foth, Martin Luther University in Halle-Wittenberg
Prof. Dr. Manfred Niekisch, Goethe University of Frankfurt and Frankfurt Zoo
Prof. Dr. Miranda Schreurs, Freie Universität Berlin
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