An article recently published in the Ardeola journal presents an overview of the environmental objectives of Spanish agriculture. The paper called “Environmental Objectives of Spanish Agriculture: Scientific Guidelines for their Effective Implementation under the Common Agricultural Policy 2023-2030” provides a set of scientific guidelines for the effective implementation of sustainable agricultural practices in Spain in accordance with the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for 2023-2030.

Authors of the article, amongst whom SHOWCASE researchers, state that direct assessments of environmental objectives are both technically and economically feasible, and can be attractive to farmers. They identify a number of measures that the national authorities could adopt in order to improve biodiversity-friendly agriculture that is also economically efficient. 

The researchers outline a number of actions that would benefit the effective transition of agriculture to a biodiversity-friendly framework. Biodiversity could be promoted by the adoption of a set of measures, including the identification of regional biodiversity targets and landscape-level measures to achieve them, and the establishment of sustainable landscape management practices.

Another important recommendation is raising the involvement of local farmers in biodiversity goals, as they play a crucial part in the adoption of biodiversity-friendly practices.  There is also a high necessity for introduction of new instruments for ecosystem service monitoring. The only such instrument so far is the Farmland Birds index developed and supported by Birdlife International.

Read the full article here.

Photo: Green tractor plowing the fields. Credit: Jannis Knorr.