TAPAS coordination meeting 11 September 2007

Organisational aspects

Official communication All requests for payment and other financial information, technical reports and all other correspondence: The European Commission Directorate-General Eurostat Unit E1 Mr Hubert CHARLIER BECH B2/472 L-2920 Luxembourg

Project Manager Eurostat: Johan Selenius Country: mentioned in the grant contract Contact on both sides for all questions related to the contract, responsible for making sure that things run smoothly Draft reports, technical questions, financial questions can be e-mailed for easy progress

Pre-financing Final payment 30% of contract value should have been paid already Exception: Belgium Final payment After end of contract No interim payments Final payment request to be sent with the final technical implementation report a final financial statement a complete summary of real income and of real expenditure of the action in an excel-file

Deadlines Contract running time specified in article I.2 of the contract Final technical implementation report and financial statement within 45 days of the end of the contract Draft technical implementation report can be sent before, to allow more time to discussions and shorter approval time Commission has 90 days to approve or reject reports and to pay balance

Amendments to the contract Contract can be amended, if there is a proper justification Amendments are complicated processes, so they should be avoided, if possible If problems arise, please contact Eurostat as soon as possible to discuss what can be done Any change in the organisation, bank accounts, etc need to be reported If an amendment is considered necessary, an official request must be sent in well ahead of the end of the contract, to allow the procedures to be launched in time

Background

Main conclusions of Commission Communication September 2006 (COM(2006)508): streamlining the IRENA indicator set, while strengthening its relevance for policy purposes; consolidating the selected set of indicators, extending the coverage to the new Member States and correcting existing weaknesses; setting up a permanent and stable arrangement needed for the long-term functioning of the indicator system.

Council of Agriculture and Fisheries 19-21.12. 2007 A coherent set of agri-environmental indicators is required to capture the regional diversity of agriculture and environmental conditions as well as their positive and negative influences; need for comparable data at the appropriate geographical level, and covering the whole Community, using, as far as possible, existing data sources and data collection structures; the list of indicators could be adjusted as a result of policy requirements or on the basis of experience with the further development of the indicators and their use in policy making; close account should be taken of the costs and resource implications of any new initiative related to data collection that goes beyond existing legal requirements; a long-term information system for monitoring environmental integration to be set up, with the help of the CPSA.

Chosen Indicators Operational indicators, for which the concept and measurement are well-defined and for which data are available at national and, where appropriate, at regional level Indicators that are well defined, but cannot realise their full information potential due to a lack of regional data or weaknesses in the modelling approaches on which they are based Indicators that need substantial improvements in order to become fully operational. These include indicators that have conceptual limitations or are not well defined and indicators where the quality of existing data needs to be improved, new data collection systems need to be set up, or where modelling tools need to be further developed

Operational indicators No Title Main data source 2 Agricultural areas under Natura 2000 ENV database 4 Area under organic farming AGRI admin. Data, FSS 7 Irrigation FSS 12 Intensification/extensification FADN, FSS 13 Specialisation 19 Greenhouse gas emissions UNFCCC reports, EEA

Indicators that are well defined (I) No Title Main data source 1 Agri-environmental commitments AGRI admin. data 3 Farmers’ training levels and environmental farm advisory services FSS, AGRI admin. data 5 Mineral fertiliser consumption New fertiliser survey 8 Energy use Energy stats, FADN 9 Land use change OECD/Eurostat joint questionnaire 10 Cropping/Livestock patterns FSS 11 Farm management practices FSS, new SAPM 15 Gross nitrogen balance New data collection

Indicators that are well defined (II) No Title Main data source 18 Ammonia emissions UNECE/EMEP reports 21 Soil erosion JRC soil database 24 Production of renewable energy FSS, admin. and other sources 25 Population trends of farmland birds Pan-European Common Bird Monitoring project 27 Water quality – Nitrate pollution, Pesticide pollution Eurowaternet

Indicators that need substantial improvements No Title Main data source 6 Consumption of pesticides New pesticide survey 14 Risk of land abandonment Modelling 16 Risk of pollution by phosphorous New data collection 17 Pesticide risk 20 Water abstraction SAPM, modelling 22 Genetic diversity FAO 23 High nature value farmland 26 Soil quality JRC soil database 28 Landscape – state and diversity

Setting up the indicator system (I) A Memorandum of Understanding is being set up between Eurostat, AGRI, ENV, JRC and the EEA A lead institution will be assigned for each indicator. This role includes drafting and updating the AEI fact sheets, compiling the indicator, consulting other partners, coordinating the work to be done, prepare progress reports and work programs All partners are collaborating in data collection and management, improving concepts and methodology, modelling and data Eurostat will coordinate all activities related to data acquisition, validation and dissemination, as well as the development, compilation and maintenance of the indicators DG AGRI will assess periodically if the AEI set and the work carried out serves the needs and if needed initiate discussions on possible further work to be done

Setting up the indicator system (II) Eurostat will take the lead for those indicators that are related to the European statistical system. DG AGRI will take the lead for certain indicators that have a specific political interest and/or that have not yet been fully developed. DG ENV will take a lead for indicators where the policy developments have been assigned mainly to this institution, for example on pesticide risks. DG JRC will take the lead for those indicators relying on the pan- European geo-environmental databases or where models need to be built. EEA will take the lead in areas where the responsibility has been assigned mainly to this institution, by agreements between ENV, JRC, Eurostat and EEA.

Need for regional information

LSU/ ha 2005 2000 ∆ 2000-2005 France 0.82 0.86 -0.03 -4.06% Île de France 0.09 0.10 -0.01 -13.08% Languedoc-Roussillon 0.23 0.26 -10.91% Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur 0.27 0.01 1.88% Centre 0.30 0.32 -0.02 -6.67% Champagne-Ardenne 0.35 0.36 -3.28% Picardie 0.38 0.42 -0.04 -9.70% Corse 0.44 0.47 -6.44% Alsace 0.53 0.58 -0.05 -8.58% Poitou-Charentes 0.55 -5.74% Bourgogne 0.62 -6.48% Midi-Pyrénées 0.66 -5.04% Lorraine 0.67 0.73 -0.06 -8.73% Haute-Normandie 0.74 0.77 -3.91% Franche-Comté 0.76 0.80 -5.49% Aquitaine 0.79 0.78 1.34% Rhône-Alpes 0.81 0.83 -2.79% Nord - Pas-de-Calais 0.88 0.93 -6.10% Auvergne 0.89 0.91 -1.90% Limousin 1.04 1.05 -1.32% Basse-Normandie 1.18 1.24 -4.95% Pays de la Loire 1.61 1.66 -2.46% Bretagne 2.77 2.91 -0.14 -4.97%

Gross surplus for 1x1 km grid cells

Other AEI lists with nutrient balances The nutrient balances are considered to be a good indicator, and thus it is included in many indicator lists. The Sustainable Development Indicators is one of the most used indicator lists in the EU, containing 3 different indicator levels. The nitrogen surplus is one of the indicators, but has not been included in the last monitoring report due to lack of EU-wide data. The Rural Development Impact and Context Indicators (Axis) also includes the Gross nutrient balances as an Axis 2, environment Objective related baseline indicator. The changes in gross nutrient balance is an impact indicator. EEA has chosen the Gross Nutrient Balances as part of their Core Set of Indicators. The Joint Working Party on Agriculture and Environment of the OECD has decided on a set of AEI to be published regularly. In the last meeting in July, it was decided to suggest to include the GNB in the joint Eurostat/OECD Questionnaire on the State of the Environment.

Timing and planning of the TAPAS work

Two coordination meetings planned 11 September 2007 Second one open Need to be within the timeframes of the actions for those countries who have included the travel costs in the budget