Blogger: Simon Tonkin, RSPB Senior Farmland Conservation Officer
For those of you taking an interest in the latest developments in wildlife friendly farming and the EU Budget, let me reassure you, the current CAP system does have a good element about it; namely in the form of agri-environment schemes.
These Schemes pay for wildlife improvements, soil and water protection and the conservation of historic sites. Currently there is an inadequate financial commitment from the CAP for these schemes, and this needs to be improved not reduced if the EU is to realise its target of halting the loss of biodiversity by 2020. The reality is, we will lose species in the UK without an appropriate and well-resourced agri-environment scheme that provides habitats on farms for our wildlife. With over 70% of the UK farmed in one way or another it is of pivotal importance for our wildlife, otherwise we face silent and impoverished fields and our world will be much poorer for it.
Let me also clarify, we do currently produce enough food to feed the world. The problems are; how our food is distributed, political barriers and how sustainable that production is. To support a resilient agricultural system for the future, we need to pay heed to the decline in our farmland wildlife. Without a functional ecosystem, we will struggle to grow crops and ensure we have long-term food production.
This isn’t about rich or poor, big or small, but it is about delivering public benefits from public investment. Therefore, to make an ill-thought cut to the CAP in this area shows no logic. Analysing the CAP expenditure, you can soon find out that you don’t actually need more money in the system and you CAN still make cuts. However, in particularly austere times, they should transfer money into the CAP where it’s needed most not make a cut to the one area of the CAP that delivers real public benefits. Agri-environment schemes are the good side of CAP and deliver for rural populations and importantly ensure our countryside isn’t devoid of wildlife. It also means that agricultural life is more resilient for the future with pollinating and predatory insects, birds and mammals, soil and water protected, so that we have a basis for agriculture for the future and an environment that give us a real quality of life.
Without sufficiently funded agri-environment schemes, the reality will be further losses of skylarks, corn buntings, water voles, farmland butterflies and moths and ground beetles. Of course I don’t fancy that much and I’m quite happy to pay for it as much as the next man. From our scientific work, we can see there are half as many farmland birds in the UK as there were when I was a child and because we have lost too much already and our ecosystems are broken, it’s time to stop and fix that. The good side of CAP will let our farmers, the keepers of the countryside, do this for us.
Kind regards
Simon
P.S. If you are convinced that you can make a difference and have words in David Cameron’s ear then follow the link here and complete the e-action
www.rspb.org.uk/steppingup