The EU is considering scrapping payments farmers receive to protect vulnerable wildlife on their land. Cutting this funding would mean that some of the UK’s most-loved farmland birds and wildlife will face an uncertain future, or even extinction. It is imperative that we step up for nature and call on the European Commission to safeguard this vital lifeline! The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) determines how our farmland is managed and, as over 70% of the UK's land area is farmland, also has a huge influence on our wildlife. This is not a choice between food production and wildlife - we can have both. The time is ripe to make the policy fit for wildlife, the wider countryside and for the future of farming.
Despite some positive changes in recent years, the CAP is still largely failing to support and encourage more environmentally-friendly farming. The vast majority of the CAP's taxpayer-funded €1 billion a week budget fails to deliver benefits for the environment and neglects farming systems which are inherently better for wildlife.
The EU's Agriculture Commissioner, Dacian Cioloş, is currently writing his proposals for how to reform CAP, but is being put under pressure by the President of the European Commission, José Manuel Barroso, who is considering cutting the so called ‘Pillar 2’ funding – this is the money available within the CAP to reward farmers who farm in ways that benefit wildlife and the environment.
It is vital that this doesn’t happen. The European Commission must take this opportunity to ensure these reforms to the CAP reflect the needs of the environment. A more sustainable, wildlife-friendly CAP which rewards greater numbers of farmers for the environmental services they provide will not only help the EU make its contribution to the global target to halt and reverse the loss of biodiversity by 2020, but will also help protect the raw materials - our soil and water - and ensure the long-term sustainability of farming itself.
As CAP covers the whole EU, the RSPB has joined forces with seven European BirdLife partners to ensure its campaign reflects the depth and breadth of support for a CAP with wildlife and the natural environment at its heart. By joining with others across Europe and speaking out together we are a much stronger voice for nature.
Please step up for nature and support the RSPB campaign by e-mailing the President of the European Commission today.
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Since 1945, the UK has lost 97 per cent of its flower-rich meadows, 94 per cent of its lowland raised bogs, 79 per cent of its lowland heaths and enough hedgerow to encircle the globe eight times – mainly to intensifying agriculture.
Some two thirds of farmland species of plants, mammals, insects and birds are declining, some precipitously: the lapwing is down by 45 per cent in just 40 years, the skylark by 53 per cent, and the grey partridge by 90 per cent.
UPDATE: After much speculation and alarm the draft EU Budget was published late on 29 June – a crucial day in the history of wildlife-friendly farming. The outstanding piece of news is that plans to scrap Pillar 2 have been fought off.
We couldn’t have achieved this without the help of the 8,107 people who took part in our online action and e-mailed the President of the European Commission during the last week.
Thank you all very much!
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