Newsletter / Blog
2012-07-17 300 Million farmland birds lost since 1980!!!!
How
many more must we lose before changing cap?
The latest
scientific data brought together by BirdLife International and the European
Bird Census Council show that common farmland birds continue to decline in the
EU: 300 million farmland birds have been lost since 1980. The news was released
last week, on the eve of a major civil society debate organised by the European
Commission and the new Cypriot Presidency of the EU on Friday 13, in which
decision makers and civil society organisations discussed support for the
so-called “green reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP)”. Amidst
growing fears that this latest reform might not deliver on its promises,
today’s news should have a serious sobering effect and remind everyone what is
at stake.
The current CAP
results in a range of activities that damage the environment, and especially
biodiversity. Intensification, which is accompanied by over-use of chemicals
and the loss of landscape heterogeneity, has been one of the main causes of
destruction of many farmland ecosystems around Europe.
Another is the abandonment of High Nature Value (HNV) farming systems,
threatened by our inability to change the economics of these precious systems
in rural areas. Birds are one of the best indicators available for measuring
ecosystem health, and the newly published figures show that many species are at
their lowest since monitoring began.
The Farmland Bird
Indicator (FBI) combines the aggregate population trends of 37 species
classified as farmland birds. 22 of these species are decreasing and only 6 are
increasing, with a further 6 being stable and 3 having uncertain trends.
Overall, the indicator shows a decline of 52% since 1980. This equates to a
loss of more than 300 million birds breeding in farmland over the last three
decades- despite the efforts of many nature-friendly farmers and conservation
organisations.
The lost of 300
million farmland birds matters because it suggests a wider disregard for nature
and its value: There is growing recognition that biodiversity loss can affect
lives and economies directly and indirectly through the loss of a range of
ecosystem services upon which we all depend.
BirdLife Europe
maintains that these trends can only be reversed if the whole of the CAP is
greened. This involves setting a strong cross compliance baseline that includes
all of the key pieces of environmental legislation; a first pillar of direct
payments that are clearly linked to some basic good agronomic practices; and a
strong Rural Development Pillar that contains measures to reward farmers that
go beyond basic good practices and carry out specific management to improve the
environment. Such reforms would ensure the CAP provides much better value for
money, a must at times of financial crisis, when EU citizens expect even more
that each euro is well spent.
BirdLife Europe
hopes that this information helps decision makers and stakeholders to take a
real step towards a better farming policy. Future consultative events like the
one that took place on July 13 should be real exchanges between EU decision
makers and EU citizens, to move towards this more sustainable Agriculture
Policy that will ensure our long-term food security while respecting the
environment.
For more
information please contact Ian Burfield,
European Science & Data Manager at BirdLife International |