Agri-Environmental schemes: Flat CAP
Agri-environmental schemes, in which farmers are paid to encourage
biodiversity, now cover 20% of European Union farmland and will soon account
for 10% of spending on the unloved Common Agricultural Policy. But the first
investigation of the effectiveness of these schemes suggests that they have
a negligible or even detrimental effect on the abundance of selected
indicator species on Dutch agricultural land. The poor results may be due to
farmers' lack of motivation or expertise, and highlight the need for a
re-evaluation of agricultural conservation measures. Some conservationists
argue that the latest schemes, and those in hill farm regions, are more
effective.
Agri-environment schemes do not effectively protect biodiversity in Dutch
agricultural landscapes
DAVID KLEIJN, FRANK BERENDSE, RUBEN SMIT & NIELS GILISSEN
Nature 413, 723-725 (18 October 2001)
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