Annual Report 2018 EuroNatur Foundation

Conservation & energy policies
Photo: Unsplash - Alfred Schrock - maize (Zea mays)
The agricultural policy of the EU has backed
German and European agriculture into a
dead end. With the ongoing industrialization
of agriculture it undermines its own
foundations: fertile soils, biodiversity and
healthy livestock. And the energy policy is
hardly any better. Carbon dioxide emissions
in the EU are still way too high. EuroNatur
calls for a swift turnaround in agriculture,
conservation and energy policies and advocates
at the international level for relevant
changes.
New minister – old agricultural policy
The EU-level negotiations on the reform of the European
agricultural policy post-2021 were in full swing in 2018.
The distribution of a great deal of money is at stake here:
Approximately 40 percent of the European Union’s total
budget is spent on the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP),
with big farms being the primary beneficiaries. Biodiversity
and the European culture of family farming are falling by
the wayside. The situation is particularly dire for wild bees
and other pollinators. In response, in the spring of 2018
several European conservation organizations including
EuroNatur in a joint appeal called on the European
Commission to take decisive action in this matter by,
among other measures, banning the use of insecticides as
quickly as possible and by making financial supports conditional
upon sustainable agricultural management rather
than linking them to farm size. The appeal had an impact:
in late April 2018 an EU-wide ban on the application of
certain neonicotinoids was agreed.
As the EU’s most populous country, Germany plays a significant
role in the negotiations in Brussels on the reorientation
of the CAP. But Germany is thwarting progress on
environmental protection. The new Minister of Agriculture
Julia Klöckner who took up office in 2018 is, for example,
opposed to an effective linkage between direct payments
to farmers and the provision of environmental services. The
appeal published by the Agricultural Platform at the time
of her inauguration appears to have fallen on deaf ears.
EuroNatur will continue to scrutinize the negotiations in
Brussels on CAP financial planning in 2019.
Partners: AbL, BUND, Agricultural Platform as well as other
farming and conservation associations
Funding: BfN with funds provided by BMUB, EuroNatur’s donors
Annual Report 2018
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