Brussels, 12/09/2005 (Agence Europe) - The need to find ways to step up the fight against climate change has, for the very first time, mobilised the attention of EU environment and agriculture ministers who met last weekend in London (EUROPE 9023). It was generally felt that this first-ever reflection on the interaction between climate change and European agriculture had been constructive. Guided by the contributions of international experts, the British EU Presidency, the ministers and the European Commission explored avenues for action to reduce the impact that agriculture has on global warming and to adjust agricultural practice to climate changes to come, in the knowledge that the extreme weather events such as flooding or drought will continue to cause displacement of crops and vegetation. Among the five scenarios envisaged by the European Environment Agency in its forward-looking study over thirty years entitled “Prelude” (Prospective Environmental analysis of Land Use Development in Europe), the very worst scenario - that of a large-scale natural disaster - is what struck the imagination the most. The various scenarios depend on the social effects of the different soil use policies and, in each of them, factors such as demographic trends, spatial planning models, agricultural policy and climate change lead to changes in soil use and surface area causing a broad range of different impacts on biodiversity, the quality of water, flooding, greenhouse gases, soil erosion and the identity of landscapes. Less frightening than the worst disaster scenario are the presentations by various experts, which led Margarett Beckett, the British Secretary of State for Agriculture and the Environment who chaired the work, to reach the following conclusions:
Although agriculture contributes up to 10% of European greenhouse gas emissions, mainly via the production of methane of animal origin (3% of emissions) and the use of fertilisers, and although it also suffers the impact of climate change, it nonetheless provides huge opportunities for tackling global warming. This was recognised by all in London. Speaking to the press after the meeting, Margaret Beckett asserted that sustainable agriculture and the sustainable use of soil can play a determining role in combating climate change and continue to provide social and economic advantages that rural areas need. She felt it was important to continue sharing experience gained to manage the impact of climate change and tackle the major risks recently experienced in Europe such as fires and flooding. The European Commission, she went on to say, has a major role to play in the promotion and coordination of climate strategies, and she was pleased the two relevant Commissioners placed considerable importance on this issue.
Mariann Fischer Boel, Agriculture Commissioner, welcomed this meeting which she felt was not of the ordinary kind and that the exchange on ways to avoid disaster scenarios and roads to explore for soil management and preservation of the rural landscape had been constructive. Stressing the fact that CAP reform 2003 comes within the fight against climate change through the uncoupling of direct payments and production and by encouraging the production of biofuels (45 euros per hectare), she announced that she would soon present options for the use of biofuels in order to establish the same rules for all. An interservices working group on biofuels was set up within the European Commission (DG Agriculture/Transport and Energy, Environment, Taxation/Customs Union) to prepare
a communication which should lead on to an action plan at the start of next year. The Commissioner added that the falling volumes of beef farming in the EU and greater import potential would be a useful limit to greenhouse gas emissions. She thought supplementary fiscal instruments would also contribute to meeting the Kyoto Protocol requirements, but said everything depended on the political will of the Member States. Asked about encouraging organic farming, Fischer Boel said it was up to Member States to decide on this, adding that it was an excellent idea if there's a market for it.
While farming is the third largest cause of climate change, it also has the potential to become part of the solution to global warming, argued European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas. The CAP reforms have led to farming cutting its greenhouse gas emissions by 10% on the 1990 level (representing 1.7% of the EU's Kyoto target, he said), which boded well for the future. Much more could be expected of agri-environmental measures from 2013 onwards. 'Climate policies cannot be developed in isolation from other policy areas… I am happy to say that we are on a good track in the Commission to make sure that climate policies play a role in the context of agricultural policies.' On the international stage, the EU must continue to exercise leadership, said the Commissioner, with the main objective for the moment being starting the process leading to international negotiations on the future climate change regime (post-2012) at the COP II meeting in Montreal in December. Commissioner Dimas said the Commission would launch a new phase of the European Climate Change Programme (ECCP) in October this year, reviewing progress to date and exploring new, cost-effective measures for achieving emission reductions and cut farming's contribution to global warming. Stavros Dimas hoped Hurricane Katrina's impact on public opinion in the United States would change the US's position, saying he already felt encouraged by action taken by states in the north-east of the US and in California, and by positive noises from Congress.
Renate Kunast, German consumer, food and farm minister, and Jurgen Trittin, German environment and nature protection minister, joined forces in calling for a cut in direct payments (aid to farmers), with the proceeds going to organic farming. They argue that the measures decided at EU level in recent years to better integrate environmental demands into the Common Agricultural Policy went in the right direction (like greater use of biomass energy and the cuts in greenhouse gas emissions achieved by reforming the CAP), but the bursts of extreme weather conditions and growth in demand for fossil fuels make progress towards a greener type of farming more necessary than ever. They recommended that the European research policy should be more focussed on general climate protection and, more specifically, on agriculture (research into modified plants and the water retention capacity of soil); setting a European organic farming target since organic farming is less damaging to the environment; promoting the use of biofuels, as desired by Germany, France, Poland and Austria in a memorandum published in June 2004; preparing a concept for making greater use of renewable energy EU-wide; and the drafting of an EU common position on integrating farming and forestry (looking at the problem of CO2 emissions caused by deforestation) in international climate negotiations post-2012. Renate Kunast said the new EU Member States were not yet sufficiently prepared but hoped the recent episodes of drought in Spain and Portugal this year would get countries in southern Europe to change their views.
While the joint ministerial meeting was being held, the European Environment Agency published a report on Sunday, 'The European Environment Outlook', recommending the integration of climate change policies and stating that e Existing policies are not enough to save Europe's environment from extensive change. The report demonstrates that despite success in some areas, the EU still has a considerable way to go to meet many long term environmental commitments. Legislation has successfully addressed 'big polluters', but there are concerns with individual consumption and diffuse sources of pollution in agriculture. "Policy-makers need to take a more integrated approach with a coherent response across key sectors" says EEA executive director Professor Jacqueline McGlade. This means that political decision-makers in the fields of transport and farming, for example, will have to take the combined environmental implications of their policies into account, explains McGlade. (The EEA's report can be accessed at: http: //http://www.eea.eu.int/main_html )