Work on selected agri-environment indicators at the EEA Working party ‘Agriculture and Environment’, Eurostat, 11-12 Dec. 2008

Review of selected indicators No 2 Agricultural Areas under Natura 2000 Natura 2000 reporting / CORINE land cover No specific data flow under agricultural statistics No 22 Genetic diversity Data basis is rather weak (‘C’ indicator) Relied mainly on limited FAO statistics No 27 Water quality (N + pesticide pollution) Relies on EEA EIONET data based on national environmental monitoring systems

Agricultural area under Natura 2000 Data source has been reporting by MS under Habitats Directive to DG ENV Focus was on habitats dependent on extensive agricultural management New definition in COM (2006) 508 final requires focus on all farmland -> Natura 2000 reporting is no longer adequate -> shift to GIS-based data set (CLC 2000)

Methodological considerations Need to overlay Natura 2000 boundaries with spatial data on agricultural land use No geo-referenced data available on ‘UAA’ -> Use of CLC 2000 as proxy for ‘farmland’ CLC 2000 overestimates agricultural land use on the extensive margin Probably underestimates on the urban fringe but this is not important for N2000 CLC provides a consistent data set across Europe -> allows overlay with Natura 2000

Share of different land uses in national Natura 2000 area (CLC 2000) Agric. share > 30% in BG, DE, DK, ES, FR, GR, HU, LU, PL, PT; < 15% in CY (?), EE, FI, SE Forestry share > 50% in BE, BG, CY, CZ, LT, LU, PL, RO, SI, SK

Share of land within Natura 2000 area in total national farmland + forestry area (CLC 2000) Share of farmland under Natura 2000: > 10% in AT, DE, FR, GR, IT, LU, PL > 15% in BU, ES, HU, PT, SI*, SK

Genetic diversity IRENA approach was based on FAO data and EuroSemStats database, 3 sub-indicators: Share in production of main crop varieties registered and certified for marketing. The production area is estimated on the basis of the seed multiplication area. Diversity of breeds in total livestock population for different types of livestock (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and poultry). Distribution of risk status of national livestock breeds in agriculture.

Further development of the indicator To build on work under the SEBI 2010 process (follows approach under Convention on Biological Diversity) More recent data on agricultural crop varieties is not available -> this sub-indicator may not be continued Livestock-related sub-indicators can be updated using FAO data and/or a European database (http://www.rfp-europe.org/)

Options for the livestock sub-indicators EFABIS project aims to establish a European database with automatic links to FAO data base Following parameters to be covered: Total number of breeding females of cattle/ sheep breeds Total number of breeding females of native cattle/ sheep breeds Total number of cattle/sheep breeds Total number of cattle/sheep breeds whose population is endangered (i.e. below a threshold defined by each country)

Thank you for your attention! Jan-Erik.Petersen@eea.europa.eu