Biodiversity - Infopage
Overview on biodiversity monitoring and CAP contribution to biodiversity protection.
Background information
Biodiversity in agricultural areas has to be preserved: agricultural practices directly influence the suitability of habitats for plants and animals living in agricultural areas, while a balanced presence of such organisms (e.g. pollinators) is providing ecosystem services that influence crop production.
The Farmland Bird Index is a measure of the number and composition of common birds' population in agricultural areas. Natura 2000 is the main European network of protected areas aiming to improve the conditions for habitats and birds: the share of agricultural areas gives an indication of the quantity on total agricultural areas at Member State level, while the percentage of grassland habitats by conservation status gives a qualitative indication of their suitability for hosting biodiversity. Among CAP interventions, the dashboard provides the areas of Ecological Focus Areas (EFA) declared by farmers in greening and the share of main EFA types for each Member State. The share of land under rural development contracts includes actions aiming to improve biodiversity on both agricultural and forestry areas.
To know more on environmental challenges facing agriculture and rural areas, click here.
Figure: Ecological Focus Area (EFA) (hectares)
Indicator(s) used in the graph:
Notes:
- Ecological focus area corresponds to arable land dedicated to 'ecologically beneficial elements' as part of greening requirements introduced in the 2013 CAP reform. Find out more.
- The source for data on ecological focus area is Member States notifications. ISAMM is one of the data systems used by Member States to send their notifications to the European Commission. It is used to extract output indicators (uptake data) on greening.
Graph: Farmland birds index (unit: 2000 = 100)
Indicator(s) used in the graph:
Graph: Agricultural habitats (grassland) by conservation status (%)
Indicator(s) used in the graph:
Mapping with legend(s) in the graph:
Graph: Share of EFA in total arable land (%) - Ecological focus area
Indicator(s) used in the graph:
Mapping with legend(s) in the graph:
Notes:
- The source for the arable land area is the crop production statistics (Eurostat).
- The source for data on EFA is Member States notifications. ISAMM is one of the data systems used by Member States to send their notifications to the European Commission. It is used to extract output indicators (uptake data) on greening.
Graph: Share of land under contracts supporting biodiversity and/or landscapes and forest (%)
Biodiversity and/or landscapes, focus area 4A, rural development programmes
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Mapping with legend(s) in the graph:
Notes:
- The hectares of agricultural land and forestry under management contracts supporting biodiversity and/or landscapes (focus area 4A) are reported by Member States to the Commission in the Annual implementation reports (AIR) of Rural Development programmes. The denominator (total Utilised agricultural area) refers to the figure of the closest year in the Farm Structure Survey (Eurostat).
- It should be noted that a number of management commitments have multiple effects, which means the same area may count toward other focus areas and priorities, for example in relation to water and soil management.
Graph: Share of agricultural area in Natura 2000 (%)
Indicator(s) used in the graph: