- Agriculture and Environment, Directorate General VI (DGVI), EU Commission
- Fifth European Commission (EC) Environmental Action Programme
- Agenda 2000: Common Agricultural Policy vs. Agri-Environmental instruments
- COM (98)353 & Kyoto Protocol
- Europe's Environment: The Second Assessment
- Directions towards sustainable agriculture 1999
- National Regulations including Conservation Agriculture
- ECAF & National Associations collaboration
"Farmers stand to gain from protecting the environment because it is in their fundamental economic interest to conserve natural resources for the future. It makes more economic sense to take account of nature conservation from the outset than to have to repair damage after it has done- and this may in any case not even be possible".
"Environmental protection and nature conservation create extra work and cost for the farmers, but in no other sector can so much be achieved for the environment for so little input. We must no longer take for granted the contribution made to society by farmers through environment measures but must compensate them appropriately".
Source: Commission of the European Communities, Directorate General VI, 1999. Agriculture and Environment, Brussels, 17.01.1999, (http://www.europa.eu.int/ comm/dg06/envir/en/ index.htm).
Conservation agriculture fully meets the Fifth EC Environmental Action Programme "Towards Sustainability", since it covers one of the five target sectors (agriculture) of the strategy of this Programme and gives solutions to three of the main seven "themes of targets": climate change, management of water resources and protection of nature and bio-diversity. Also, in the progress report on implementation of this Programme approved on 19th January 1996 one of the conclusions in the Agriculture sector is that "public authorities in Member States together with farmers' organisations, the pesticides industry and non-government organisations (NGOs) should promote awareness and develop training on extensive methods and sustainable farming technologies; these actions should be supported at EU level".
Source: Commission of the European Communities. 1999. Directions towards sustainable agriculture, COM (1989), 22 final, Brussels 17.01.1999 (http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/dg06/envir/ 9922/9922-en.pdf)
At this time "Aid for putting into practice Community regulations in environmental matters" are on the way to being implemented. On 15 July 1997 the Commission adopted a package of measures called "Agenda 2000". This is a key strategy document in which the Commission sets out its view on how the European Union should develop its common policies beyond the year 2000. Among its measures, it outlines the future reform of the Common Agricultural Policy. It reflects that in the coming years, a prominent role will be given to agri-environmental instruments to support a sustainable development of rural areas and respond to society's increasing demand for environmental services. The measures aimed at maintaining and enhancing the quality of the environment will be reinforced and extended. With respect to better integrating the environment into the Common Market Organisations, the Commission will make a proposal enabling Member States to make direct payments conditioned to the respect for environmental provisions. Moreover, targeted agri-environmental measures would be reinforced and encouraged through increased budgetary resources and, where necessary, higher co-financing rates.
Source: European Union- Agenda 2000, Communication of the Commission DOC 97/6, Strasbourg, 15.July.1997, Vol. 1.
As stated in the communication COM (98)353 from the Commission, "CO2 is by far the most important greenhouse gas. Emissions of this gas account for approximately 80% of the impact when the gases in the basket are weighed according to their Global Warming Potential (GWP)". Conservation agriculture can help to put into practice the communication COM (98)353 from the Commission for the development of an effective climate change strategy, taking into account the Kyoto Protocol which specifies "that sinks including forests and agricultural soils can count towards meeting the target".
Sources: Commission of the European Communities. 1999. Environmental Action Program, COM (1998), 353, Brussels, 12.01.1999, (http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/) Kyoto Protocol/ United Nations. 1998. Framework Conventions on Climate Change, http:// www.un/ccc.de/
This publication devotes considerable attention to agri-environmental problems, and a specific chapter to "Soil Degradation". However, the European Environment Agency clearly recognises that: "soil degradation is a key environmental problem in Europe in which little development of policies or an unfavourable development of the state of the environment have occurred in the past years" (p. 16), and that "soil erosion/ degradation .... remain serious problems in many areas particularly around the Mediterranean". Little progress has been achieved in soil conservation, another area given particular attention in the EPE (Environmental Program for Europe, key recommendations, p. 20). Furthermore, it is stated that "the most obvious progress in reducing pressure on the environment has been made in those areas where an efficient international framework for action has been established. The absence of any such pan-European framework, for example for soil degradation, has delayed progress, even for the assessment of such problems. (p. 7)". Unfortunately, in the referred chapter dedicated to soil degradation no clear open statements were made on the conservation agriculture techniques, which could be the real answer to the problem.
Source: European Environment Agency. 1998. Soil Degradation, chapter 11, p.231-246.; chapter 2, climate change, p. 37-59. In: Europe«s Environment: The Second Assessment, Elsevier Science Ltd., pp. 293.
In this very recent document the "approach taken by the Commission to the integration of environment in agriculture in its Agenda 2000 proposals" is mentioned. Indeed, "sustainable agriculture was made an objective of the EU in the Amsterdam treaty". Further, Commissioners of Agriculture and of Environment, jointly, stated that the ".. (E.U) need to redefine the relationship between agriculture and environment to move towards sustainable agriculture ..." . Specific analysis/ comments on environment problems derived from current agricultural practices are made on water quality (nitrates and phosphates), land use and soil (erosion and degradation, "lack of effective erosion control measures in production systems", "burning of crop residues", .....), among many other statements.
Sources: Commission of the European Communities. 1999. Directions towards sustainable agriculture, COM (1989), 22 final, Brussels 17.01.1999 (http://www.europa.eu.int/comm/dg06/envir/9922/9922-en.pdf) Commission of the European Communities. 1999. Directions towards sustainable agriculture COM (99) 22 final, IP/99/48, CB-CO-99-047-EN-C, Luxembourg, 30 pp.
A number of national or regional regulations already include conservation agriculture as an agri-environmental measure:
Orden Junta de Andaluc’a, Andalucia Regional Government, Spain
Orden Comunidad de Madrid, Madrid Regional Government, Spain
One of the main objectives of ECAF and its National Associations is to collaborate with the European Commission and the Member States in the development of new legislation contemplating Conservation Agriculture as an agri-environmental measure. Here are some documents reflecting this work:
Proposal of the Spanish Association to the Spanish Ministry of Agriculture
