TY - JOUR

T1 - Constraints and opportunities for mainstreaming biodiversity and ecosystem services in the EU's Common Agricultural Policy

T2 - Insights from the IPBES assessment for Europe and Central Asia

AU - Simoncini, Riccardo

AU - Ring, I.

AU - Sandström, Camilla

AU - Albert, Christian

AU - Kasymov, Ulan

AU - Arlettaz, Raphael

N1 - Funding information: The International Union for the Conservation of Nature kindly funded travel and accommodation expenses to IPBES authors’ meeting for the corresponding author. The Swiss National Science Foundation (grants 31003A – 149656 , – 125398 and– 172953 ) funded the work of RA. CA got support from the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) for the Plan Smart Junior Research Group (funding code: 01UU1601A ). IR received co-funding of travel expenses by the German IPBES Coordination Office . The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency funded travel and accommodation expenses to IPBES authors’ meeting for CS. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions which greatly improved this article. The International Union for the Conservation of Nature kindly funded travel and accommodation expenses to IPBES authors? meeting for the corresponding author. The Swiss National Science Foundation (grants 31003A?149656, ?125398 and?172953) funded the work of RA. CA got support from the German Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) for the Plan Smart Junior Research Group (funding code: 01UU1601A). IR received co-funding of travel expenses by the German IPBES Coordination Office. The Swedish Environmental Protection Agency funded travel and accommodation expenses to IPBES authors? meeting for CS. We thank two anonymous reviewers for their comments and suggestions which greatly improved this article.

PY - 2019/11

Y1 - 2019/11

N2 - The European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), being one of the strongest drivers of agricultural land-use practices, has a substantial impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Member States. The initial focus of the CAP to increase and intensify agricultural production affected water and land qualities and contributed to the degradation of traditional agricultural landscapes, cultural identities, and erosion of typical farmland biodiversity. Recent CAP reforms have begun to consider biodiversity and ecosystem services, but still fall short of a thorough mainstreaming approach. The objectives of this paper are to point out main findings regarding (i) key shortcomings of the current CAP, and (ii) major opportunities to enhance the mainstreaming of biodiversity and ecosystem services within the CAP. The paper is based on insights generated in the sub-global assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) for Europe and Central Asia1. Our results illustrate the evolution of agricultural policy objectives and instruments applied in the CAP, and their effects on selected ecosystem services and biodiversity. We shed light on key shortcomings of existing policy and provide recommendations for further CAP reforms to achieve more effective biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem services.

AB - The European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), being one of the strongest drivers of agricultural land-use practices, has a substantial impact on biodiversity and ecosystem services in the Member States. The initial focus of the CAP to increase and intensify agricultural production affected water and land qualities and contributed to the degradation of traditional agricultural landscapes, cultural identities, and erosion of typical farmland biodiversity. Recent CAP reforms have begun to consider biodiversity and ecosystem services, but still fall short of a thorough mainstreaming approach. The objectives of this paper are to point out main findings regarding (i) key shortcomings of the current CAP, and (ii) major opportunities to enhance the mainstreaming of biodiversity and ecosystem services within the CAP. The paper is based on insights generated in the sub-global assessment of the Intergovernmental Science-Policy Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) for Europe and Central Asia1. Our results illustrate the evolution of agricultural policy objectives and instruments applied in the CAP, and their effects on selected ecosystem services and biodiversity. We shed light on key shortcomings of existing policy and provide recommendations for further CAP reforms to achieve more effective biodiversity conservation and sustainable use of ecosystem services.

KW - Biodiversity

KW - Common Agricultural Policy

KW - Ecosystem services

KW - Literature review

KW - Policy recommendations

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85069966624&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104099

DO - 10.1016/j.landusepol.2019.104099

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:85069966624

VL - 88

JO - Land Use Policy

JF - Land Use Policy

SN - 0264-8377

M1 - 104099

ER -