Action needed for the EU Common Agricultural Policy to address sustainability challenges

Pe’er, Guy; Bonn, Aletta; Bruelheide, Helge; Dieker, Petra; Eisenhauer, Nico; Feindt, Peter H.; Hagedorn, Gregor; Hansjürgens, Bernd; Herzon, Irina; Lomba, Ângela; Marquard, Elisabeth; Moreira, Francisco; Nitsch, Heike; Oppermann, Rainer; Perino, Andrea; Röder, Norbert; Schleyer, Christian; Schindler, Stefan; Wolf, Christine; Zinngrebe, Yves; Lakner, Sebastian

doi:10.1002/pan3.10080

Cited by 295 publications

(158 citation statements)

References 41 publications

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“…At the policy level, our case study provides empirical evidence of the impact that direct payment in CAP's pillar I have on the traditional production systems of the Mediterranean, potentially causing a locked-in state and hindering the adaptive capacity of the system to external pressures [53]. Therefore, our study supports the argument by [54] for the need to stop direct payments in the next CAP. Concerns over these dynamics were reported to act as a driver for a movement for diversification of cultures and production methods in Mértola.…”

Section: Dealing With Changesupporting

confidence: 69%

Unveiling Contrasting Preferred Trajectories of Local Development in Southeast Portugal

Esgalhado

Guimarães

2020

Land

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Mediterranean land systems are amongst the most susceptible to global change, in part due to the region’s vulnerability to climate change and misfit within a high production demanding political and societal setting. The impact of global drivers at a local scale (i.e., the possible trajectories of change of a territory) are context-dependent, and to some extent dependent on how local actors perceive them and act upon them. In this study, we focused on southeast Portugal and conducted 22 interviews and 1 collective workshop to understand how different actors across the territory anticipate the development of the region and its land systems. From our results, we get a picture of a depopulated territory, constrained by ill-adjusted policies to its harsh conditions, including little water availability and continuous depopulation. We found contrasting preferred trajectories of development for the territory. On one hand, there is a preference for prioritizing traditional land systems, usually rainfed and multifunctional. Contrasting, a need for water reservoirs that would increase water availability and allow for profitable agricultural activities and thus fixate population is recognized. The different perspectives fit with a wider debate on the role of agriculture, intensification and ecosystem services under an increasingly arid Mediterranean. The next challenge is to integrate technical expertise and knowledge with local needs and initiatives, to fit in a broader scale strategic plan. We identify a lack of technical support regarding soil health. Poor soil, from the perspective of several stakeholders, is a characteristic of the region. Knowledge dissemination is urgent so that farmers can proactively improve soil health and benefit from its capacity to increase production and retain water. We urge a higher effort from the scientific community focusing on marginal areas, supporting knowledge dissemination and analysis of the impacts of different trajectories of development.

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Section: Dealing With Changesupporting

confidence: 69%

Unveiling Contrasting Preferred Trajectories of Local Development in Southeast Portugal

Esgalhado

Guimarães

2020

Land

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“…Altogether, neither the present nor the future CAP are effective to reduce food waste. Rather than following the approach of 'public money for public goods' by increasing prices for environmental harmful and resource and greenhouse gas intensive products, subsidies support non-sustainable agricultural practices [14,77,81,86,112] (p. 308). Thus, besides the reduction of the aforementioned market intervention measures and the integration of specific measures to reduce food waste into the new CAP regulations, increased prices for food products in accordance with their environmental impact would raise the appreciation of food and thus also stimulate the avoidance of food waste.…”

Section: The Common Agricultural Policy and The Common Fisheries Policymentioning

confidence: 99%

Challenges of Food Waste Governance: An Assessment of European Legislation on Food Waste and Recommendations for Improvement by Economic Instruments

Garske

Heyl²,

Ekardt

et al. 2020

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Food is wasted throughout the entire food supply chain—from agricultural production to the household level. This has negative impacts on natural resources and the environment. At the same time, food waste is undermining the global target of food security. In turn, reducing food waste can minimise the environmental effects of agriculture on climate, biodiversity, soils, water bodies and the atmosphere. All of this is reflected in the fact that food waste is subject to various legal acts of the European Union and that it is also a major subject in the new EU Farm to Fork Strategy from May 2020. Supported by an analysis of the diffuse empirical data on food waste, the purpose of this article is to analyse the current EU legislation on food waste and its reduction to answer the following research questions: How is food waste integrated into European policies? What is the impact of European legislation on food waste? Is European legislation sufficient to trigger not only food waste reduction but also comprehensive changes in the agricultural and food sector to support global climate and environmental targets as set in the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity? Which instruments are the most suitable to do so? Methodologically, a qualitative governance analysis is applied. It is found that relevant legal acts for governing food waste include circular economy and waste law, the Common Agricultural Policy and the Common Fisheries Policy as well as food law, while international environmental targets serve as an overarching measure for governance analysis. The legal analysis shows that existing legislation lacks steering effect to significantly reduce food waste. To overcome current governance problems, the article introduces economic policy instruments. It is concluded that quantity control focusing on overarching parameters such as fossil fuels or animal-derived products has not only the potential to reduce food waste by increasing food prices but can also address the multiple interlinked environmental challenges of the agricultural and food sector.

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“…In some regions, subsidy schemes supported the abandonment of grazing through the conversion of extensive pastures into forests or crop production; while in other regions, grazing was intensified through direct payments that initiated higher animal stocking rates [12]. Local socio-economic contexts and needs are often insufficiently taken into consideration by EU-wide agricultural policies, resulting in mixed outcomes for farmers [13]. The aim of the present study is to highlight such a local socio-economic context on the Greek island of Samothrace, where the transformation of local agriculture was identified as the major driver for ecosystem degradation and widespread soil erosion [14][15][16].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Caught in a Deadlock: Small Ruminant Farming on the Greek Island of Samothrace. The Importance of Regional Contexts for Effective EU Agricultural Policies

et al. 2020

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Sedentary extensive small ruminant farming systems are highly important for the preservation of High Nature Value (HNV) farmland. Both the abandonment of grazing and overgrazing have led to environmental degradation in many Mediterranean regions. On the Greek island of Samothrace, decades of overgrazing by sheep and goats has caused severe degradation of local ecosystems. The present study highlights the importance of regional contexts for national and EU agricultural policies in regard to sustainable development of sedentary extensive livestock systems. By utilizing the conceptual framework of socio-ecological systems research, we analyze the interdependencies of environmental, economic and social factors on a local island level. Results show that between 1929 and 2016, the livestock and land-use system of Samothrace transformed from a diverse system towards a simplified system, solely used for small ruminant production. Total livestock units increased from 2200 in 1929 to 7850 in 2002, declining to 5100 thereafter. The metabolic analysis conducted for the years 1993–2016 shows that 80–90% of the feed demand of small ruminants was covered by grazing, exceeding available grazing resources for at least a decade. The regional implementation of CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) continues to support excessively high animal numbers, while farmers are highly dependent on subsidies and find themselves in an economic deadlock.

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Action needed for the EU Common Agricultural Policy to address sustainability challenges

Cited by 295 publications

References 41 publications

Unveiling Contrasting Preferred Trajectories of Local Development in Southeast Portugal

Unveiling Contrasting Preferred Trajectories of Local Development in Southeast Portugal

Challenges of Food Waste Governance: An Assessment of European Legislation on Food Waste and Recommendations for Improvement by Economic Instruments

Caught in a Deadlock: Small Ruminant Farming on the Greek Island of Samothrace. The Importance of Regional Contexts for Effective EU Agricultural Policies

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