Name

AGRI-ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT

Brief definition

Percentage of the utilised agricultural area under agri-environmental measures following Regulation No 2078/92. In Objective 1 areas 75% of the costs are financed from the EU budget, in other areas this is 50%

Unit of measure

%

Type of Indicator

Response

Objective

Contribution to the measures to combat desertification

Importance with respect to desertification

Agri-environmental programmes are intended to cover all aspects of agriculture-environment interactions. They include measures to reduce the impacts of agriculture on air, biodiversity, landscape, soil and land, and water. The measures that can be taken by farmers concern every aspect of agricultural activity, including management of non-farmed zones such as field margins. Agri-environmental measures are often site-specific: there are few activities that always have beneficial effects on all types of land. More commonly measures need to be tailored to specific agricultural and environmental situations. Substantial environmental benefits can occur from certain agri-environment measures: reduction in the use of nitrogen fertiliser, better application techniques, nature protection and conservation of landscape features.

Apart from improving the environment, these measures also support other parts of the rural economy. The tourist industry, for example, benefits from improvements to the landscape's attractiveness and increased biodiversity, while many activities, such as landscape management, create local jobs and safeguard traditional skills.

International Conventions and agreements

The UNCCD emphasizes that combating desertification must be tackled within the general framework of actions to promote sustainable development.

Secondary objectives of the indicator

Evaluation of the best management practices in combating desertification.

Definitions and basic concepts

The agri-environment regulation (Council Regulation No (EEC) 2078/92) and Regulation 1257/1999 on rural development provide for programmes to encourage farmers to carry out environmentally beneficial activities on their land. Farmers are paid the costs of providing environmental services that go beyond good farming practice and are compensated for any costs incurred and loss of income. This regulation accompanied the reforms of the CAP which were begun in May 1992. In addition to the land management measures the regulation provides for training and demonstration projects to promote the use of environmentally beneficial techniques and good farming practice. Regional or national authorities manage the programmes under a decentralised system, subject to approval by the Commission for each programme.

From the year 2000 onwards agri-environmental measures have been incorporated in the rural development scheme of the Agenda 2000 CAP reform.

Benchmarks Indication of the values/ranges of value

I° range: < Local Mean -St. Dev.
II° range: >Local Mean - St. Dev. < Local Mean
III° range: > Local Mean < Local Mean + St. Dev.
IV° range: > Local Mean + St. Dev

Methods of measurement

Area under agri-environmental measures following Regulation No 2078/92 as percentage of total agricultural area

Limits of the indicator

It is necessary to link this indicator with others, for example schemes associated with EC REG 2091/92 and adoption of Integrated Crop Management (ICM), to better estimate the area farmed under new systems. The area under agri-environment programmes only indicates potential environmental impacts. Indicators presenting evidence of change in impact as a consequence of agri-environmental measures could be relevant.

Linkages with other indicators

Organic farming, Sustainable farming

Data required to calculate the indicator

The area covered by agri-environmental measures supplied by Member States as required under Article 14 of the Implementation regulation (Regulation 746/96); area of agricultural land. Depending on the data availability the indicator can be calculated at national, local and farm level.

Data sources

Regional and National Agencies; Agricultural Census

Availability of data from national and international sources

CEC DG Agriculture, EUROSTAT New Cronos

Main institutions responsible

University of Basilicata, Potenza, Italy

Other contributing organizations

Universidade Nova de Lisboa, Universidad de Murcia, Agricultural University of Athens

Bibliography

CEC DG Agriculture 1998: Working document VI/7655/98, 9.11.1998 "State of application of regulation (EEC) No 2078/92: Evaluation of Agri-environment Programmes"

CEC DG Agriculture & Eurostat, 1999: Agriculture, Environment, Rural Development: Facts and Figures - A Challenge for Agriculture

Other references

www.eea.eu.int/

Contacts Name and address

University of Basilicata
Prof Giovanni Quaranta
email: quaranta@unibas.it