A Happy New Year to you (better late than never!)
As promised here’s a bit more on what’s to come campaigns wise in the first part of 2013, this week focussing on the CAP reform....
Many of you have been following our activity around the reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in Europe. Over 70% of the UK is farmed, so this is an incredibly important policy for UK wildlife. It’s just a tiny proportion of CAP funding that’s dedicated to wildlife-friendly farming, but it represents one of the biggest pots of money available for wildlife conservation in the UK countryside.
The EU Budget sets the headline figures available for the CAP, so has a big influence on wildlife-friendly farming funds. Last November many of you emailed David Cameron before he went to the first Budget summit between EU heads of state. The November talks collapsed, but the PM is due to head back to Brussels on 7 February, when a final agreement is expected. Please watch our video to find out why the budget matters so much and sign the petition to tell David Cameron to vote for nature.
Once the Budget has been agreed we’ll be focussing our attention back on MEPs, who will vote through the CAP reforms. There’s still a lot of change needed to get to a better policy that supports wildlife alongside sustainable food production, but there are also still opportunities for our MEPs to grasp that message and fight to get it into the reform.
Watch this space for updates on what’s next, but for now we’ve got just a few days to ask Cameron to vote for nature so please share this campaign with your friends once you’ve signed!
Written by Stephanie Landymore, photo by Andy Hay (rspb-images.com)
If you haven't already please follow the link above and vote for nature!