New EU countries wildlife habitat threatened by CAP

21/07/2006 00:00:00 The governments of the newest members of the European Union should learn from the UK’s experience of catastrophic wildlife loss; that is the message from the RSPB who commissioned a report looking at the development of schemes for wildlife-friendly farming in the EU’s newest member states. The report released by BirdLife International, represented in the UK by the RSPB, shows that 9 countries that joined the European Union in 2004 – largely from central and eastern Europe - possess significant populations of farmland birds under threat or close to extinction elsewhere in Europe. This is a direct result of having retained large areas of high nature value land, especially low-intensity farmland.

Using the report, the RSPB and BirdLife International are urging governments of the new EU member states to embrace wildlife-friendly payments to help farmers preserve the natural treasures of these areas. By contrast, similar payments in the UK and elsewhere in the EU are largely made to farmers trying to restore populations of threatened species that once populated a wildlife-rich countryside. The report highlights that many of the new countries also risk losing their farmland wildlife by missing the unique opportunity to capitalise on the payments.

The new member states (excluding Malta) are home to a disproportionate share of the European Union’s farmland birds, including: all of the globally-threatened aquatic warblers; 98% of the EU’s imperial eagles; 92% of the EU’s corncrakes; almost three out of every four (73%) of the EU's white storks; and more than half (55%) of the EU’s roller population. Within the report, the RSPB and BirdLife International have drawn up a list of 20 priority bird species that would benefit most directly from the implementation of agri-environment schemes. The list includes the stone-curlew and corncrake, two farmland birds nesting in the UK which have experienced population increases – following much larger declines – as a result of payments for wildlife-friendly farming.

Commenting on the report, Dr Mark Avery, the RSPB’s conservation director, said: ‘Those countries which have most recently joined the European Union have brought with them a wealth of wildlife, including healthy populations of species which have declined markedly elsewhere in Europe, including the UK. Some of these species, like the corncrake, are only just beginning to recover in Britain, thanks to government-funded wildlife-friendly farming schemes and the care invested in their future by groups like the RSPB.’

Being the largest to join the EU in 2004, Poland is particularly important for farmland birds. The country accounts for 10% of all agricultural land across the European Union, but illustrating its wildlife richness, Poland has more than a quarter of all the EU’s corncrakes. This compares to the UK that has fewer than 1% of the EU’s corncrake population.

Dr Mark Avery added: ‘The governments of newly-joined countries still have a choice. We would urge them to use European funds to keep their natural treasures, while they still can. This approach will also help ensure the economic and social wellbeing of farmers too. Current proposals are condemning their natural treasures to eventual oblivion.
‘Now the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) governs farming in the new member states, these nations’ wealth of wildlife is increasingly threatened not only by agricultural intensification, but also from land abandonment.’

The report investigated the contribution of existing and planned agri-environmental schemes to the management of farmland habitats and bird protection in 9 new members states: Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Slovakia and Slovenia.

Marcus Gilleard, an agricultural policy officer with BirdLife International, said: ‘Our report clearly shows that many of the current proposals to keep the countryside of Europe’s newest states alive are not properly designed, funded or targeted. These schemes promise hope but will deliver little and many species will be pushed ever closer to the brink of extinction.