Agri-environmental Policy in the European Union by Henry Buller Geoff A Wilson Andrea Holl

Author:Henry Buller, Geoff A Wilson, Andrea Holl [Henry Buller, Geoff A Wilson, Andrea Holl]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Nonfiction, Social & Cultural Studies, Political Science, Social Science, Business & Finance
ISBN: 9781351790888
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2017-11-01T04:00:00+00:00

Environmental consequences

Changes in farming practice identified above are the causes of a series of environmental problems. Intensification of production in agriculturally favourable areas, the abandonment of production in less favourable areas, and the homogenisation of crop varieties and livestock breeds have all contributed to accelerating environmental degradation. It is now widely acknowledged that modern agricultural practices have led to a major reduction in biodiversity and to an impoverishment of landscapes, largely because of increased uniformity in land uses and practices associated with the intensification process (Baldock, 1990; Tucker and Heath, 1994; Pain and Pienkowski, 1997; Tucker and Evans, 1997). In Spain, in particular, there appears to be a strong relationship between extensive arable farming methods and the diversity and richness of bird and butterfly species that depend on these systems for survival32. The diversity of uses in different fields in extensive arable systems has created a lattice of complementary habitats that harbour a wide variety of plant species, and that are also fundamental for the maintenance of bird diversity (Peco and Suárez, 1993; De Juana et al., 1993; Suárez et al., 1997a; Díaz et al., 1997).

Intensification has also contributed to the loss of landscape and cultural diversity. The co-existence of different landscape elements and land uses in traditional Spanish farm landscapes (and in other parts of the Mediterranean basin; see also Chs. 5 and 11) created an interface between nature and social organisation that allowed numerous interactions in both directions. These ‘cultural landscapes’, characterised by extensive agricultural systems that have existed for centuries, are particularly important in ecological and historical terms, but are now in serious danger of survival (Lucas, 1992; Meeus, 1993). As a result, remnant cultural landcapes have become the subject of research by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, aiming at establishing a ‘red list of threatened cultural landscapes’ in which Spain will feature prominently (Morey, 1992). Further, the farm intensification process has also contributed to the draining and ploughing of many wetlands in coastal and inland locations, and over 60% of the total wetland area in Spain has disappeared over the last 50 years (Montes and Bernués, 1994). The loss of these distinctive ecosystems has also led to a serious impoverishment of landscape diversity and the disappearance of a fundamental type of habitat to many species.

The abandonment of farms in the most marginal and unproductive areas and changes in grazing patterns are also generating other significant environmental problems, especially through increased fire hazards, the loss of fertile soils, and increased erosion risks (Pérez Trejo, 1992). Particularly serious problems have resulted from the abandonment of terracing, but others include the loss of landscape and biodiversity associated with homogenisation caused by both scrub encroachment and the planting of fast-growing tree species on abandoned land. The maintenance of a threshold density of rural population is thereby seen as a key component of agri-environmental programmes (and hence of the structural and functional systems they maintain), but the abandonment of traditional farming practices has also often led to rural population decline with resulting environmental degradation.

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