A report from the European Commission published this month says EU countries must step up efforts to implement sustainable agricultural practices to conserve and enhance biodiversity.

The report is a mid-term review of the EU’s biodiversity strategy to 2020 (see here) states that species and habitats in farmland areas continue to decline. The main factors driving biodiversity loss are insufficient implementation and enforcement of existing legislation, while intensive farming is “still a major pressure”.

The opportunity cost of not reaching the 2020 EU biodiversity target is estimated at up to euros 50 billion a year. One in six jobs in the EU depends to some extent on nature. The value of insect pollination services alone is estimated at euros 15 billion a year in the EU. Among agri-environmental practices that support biodiversity, organic farming is seen as a sector with positive employment trends that attracts younger workers and creates added value for agricultural products.

In an assessment of the strategy’s six key targets endorsed by EU member states in 2011, the conclusion states that there has been no measurable improvement in the status of the majority of agriculture-related habitats and species covered by EU nature legislation over the course of the past four years. The main threats to biodiversity include:

  • Habitat loss (through urban sprawl;
  • Agricultural intensification;
  • Land abandonment and intensively managed forests);
  • Pollution;
  • Over-exploitation;
  • Invasive alien species and
  • Climate change

Farmland birds continue to decline, while wild bees and grassland butterflies are also under pressure. The reformed Common Agricultural Policy provides a range of instruments such as Ecological Focus Areas – specifically targeting wildlife – that can contribute to supporting biodiversity. But the overall message of the report highlights that no significant progress has been made towards the headline target to halt the loss of biodiversity and degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020.

The report states that new farm rules have “an essential role to play in this process in interaction with relevant environmental policies” such as forestry, marine, fisheries and regional development. The decisions by member states to include nearly 20% of total agricultural land under contracts supporting biodiversity and/or landscapes, is welcomed by the report.

*Report from the Commission to the European Parliament and the Council: The Mid-Term Review of the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020.