CCAT approach to assess potential effects of CC measures on biodiversity and landscape Juan José Oñate

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Introduction CC is likely to impact, to a greater or lesser degree, on most of the processes related to European agriculture which are affecting biodiversity or landscape. Objective  To assess the potential effect of CC on European biodiversity and landscapes. The analysis focused on the review of EU-27 national or regional (NUTS2) legislation on CC:  793 SMR obligations stemming from the Birds, Habitats and Nitrates Directives (17 distinct ‘measures’)  424 GAEC obligations (5 issues)

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Method Identification, qualitative assessment and aggregation of the potential effectiveness of each obligation. BDLObligation characteristics 30Obligations containing elements directly targeting the maintenance or survival of animal or plant species, and habitats listed in the Directives. 22Obligations targeting habitat structure and landscape structural elements. 11Obligations targeting non-structural characteristics of the habitat for species (i.e. pollution, erosion, water abstraction) 21Other management prescriptions, e.g. stocking regimes, stubble management or time limits for harvesting, packaging, or grubbing of hedges. 10Other management prescriptions, e.g. minimum height of cut or restrictions on treated seeds. 00Obligations without effects on biodiversity and landscape. 00 Obligations which effects cannot be assessed. XXObligations not in force

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Results level 1 – Aggregated potential effects on biodiversity GAECs SMRs

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Results level 1 – Aggregated potential effects on landscape SMRsGAECs

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Results level 2 – Potential effects of 3 Directives on biodiversity Birds DirectiveHabitat DirectiveNitrates Directive

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Results level 3 – Potential effects of Birds Directive measures on biodiversity Maintain all species population Special protection areasProhibit killing/disturbance

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Results level 3 – Potential effects of GAEC issues on biodiversity Soil erosionSoil structure Soil organic matter Minimum level of maintenance

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Results level 2 – Potential effects of 3 Directives on landscape Birds DirectiveHabitat DirectiveNitrates Directive

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Results level 3 – Potential effects of Birds Directive measures on Landscape Maintain all species population Special protection areasProhibit killing/disturbance

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Results level 3 – Potential effects of GAEC issues on on landscape Soil erosionSoil structure Soil organic matter Minimum level of maintenance

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Discusion Potential effectiveness, although always positive, varies strongly among regions. These differences deserve further analysis and discussion as to whether they reflect varying environmental conditions and farming types and/or varying political willingness to seriously tackle with the existing agri-environmental issues at hand. To obtain more realistic results, calculated potential effectiveness should be translated to an expected effectiveness per region  Including levels of compliance with obligation (difficult to attempt at the moment due to lack of data)

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Conclusions and further work The proposed method seems useful to explore patterns of potential effectiveness of CC on biodiversity and landscape in the EU at regional level. Linkage of databases, modelling procedures and a user interface in a single tool, will allow end-users of CCAT to explore patterns of CC effectiveness in a friendly way. Other SMRs expected to have an effect on biodiversity and landscape, i.e. Sewage Sludge and Groundwater Directives, will soon be included in the assessment. Implementation prescription for SMRs in new Member States will also be included in last year of CCAT

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool In addition to this qualitative assessment of the effectiveness of standards for biodiversity and landscape two other assessments are proposed: 1.Assessment of impacts induced by predicted land use and livestock intensity changes as a consequence of CC (Included in PT1) 2.Impact assessments on habitat quality derived from environmental indicators. (To be included in PT2) Conclusions and further work

Cross Compliance Assessment Tool Thank you for your attention!!