2024-05-21
BRUSSELS – The link between agriculture and nature is a contested arena in Europe. Over the past decades, the European Union has become one of the leading producers and exporters of agricultural products in the world. But this has come at a great cost for Europe’s ecosystems.
More than 80% of habitats in the continent are in poor condition. Even though there are many reasons to blame, agricultural expansion has been pointed out as the main cause of the degradation of ecosystems.
According to the European Environment Agency, agricultural activities - such as intensification, fragmentation, and abandonment - represent the most common pressure group across habitats and species, with 21% of all reported pressures. In addition, around 50% of all problems related to pollution and biodiversity loss are mainly a consequence of air, water, and soil pollution caused by agriculture.
This project documents the impact of intensive agriculture in some key protected areas in Europe, notably the Nature 2000 network, through data and field reporting. The investigation shows how the implementation of the European legislation on environment protection often fails to curb the impacts of agriculture, with specific cases in Spain, Portugal, France, and Germany.
This is particularly important now that the future of the Nature Restoration Law, a key piece of European legislation that would restore 20% of the EU’s land and sea areas by 2030, is uncertain due to the opposition of some Member States and that the greening measures of the Common Agriculture Policy are being relaxed.
Photo: Adri Salido.
Supported
€20,900 allocated on 28/08/2023ID
ENV1/2023/254Grant
Tags
ONLINE
- Natura 2000: una red de protección medioambiental amenazada por la agricultura, El Salto Diario, 21/05/2024
- Cuando la principal amenaza para los espacios naturales protegidos viene de la agricultura, El Pais, 04/02/2025
- Intensive farming threatens protected areas and destroys rural communities and employment in Europe, Equal Times, 04/02/2025
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Mit Natur gegen das Feuer, Junge Welt, 06/02/2025
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El origen del papel: el devastador impacto de pinos y eucaliptos, Anuario de Consumo Crítico 2024/2025, December 2024
RADIO
- Zweiter Bildungsweg - Sicher im Wasser - Bodenschutz, WRD 5, Quarks, 26/08/2025 (01:05:30 timestamp)
- Further, a short radio piece "How agroforestry can bring back biodiversity to agriculture" will be aired on the 12th of March, followed by a long expert talk on the 13th, both at Quarks, WDR 5 radio. Later on a longer piece will be aired too.
REPUBLISHED
- Cuando la principal amenaza para los espacios naturales protegidos viene de la agricultura, EcoIdeas, 04/02/2025
- Cuando la principal amenaza para los espacios naturales protegidos viene de la agricultura, Agroinforma Ibercaja, 04/02/2025
FOLLOW UP
• Two workshops were organised by the Friedrich-Ebert-Foundation with Katharina Nickoleit as speaker: 3-7 June 2024 Bonn - Man vs. nature? 5-9 May 2025 - Bonn - Water is life.
COUNTRIES
- France
- Germany
- Portugal
- Spain
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