The electronic magazine Edie (www.edie.net) has just published relevant news for all of us. In this post, they report that more than 2,500 European scientists joined and communicated with the EU parliament in a letter urging them to “act of science and undertake a far-reaching reform of the EU Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) without delay“.

In that letter, sent to the Committee on Agriculture and Rural Development (AGRI) and the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI), it states that there is an “unequivocal scientific consensus” between the intensification of agriculture and the usual Increasing loss of biodiversity.

Most alarming is that it describes the harmful effects that the intensive agricultural model, backed by the current CAP, has on biodiversity, stating that much of this damage could soon be “irreversible.”

It highlights the serious damage caused by industrial-type agriculture on the environment of the member countries, and the need for a CAP reform that takes into account an improvement in the environmental conditions of our rural areas.

According to the advice given by scientists, the CAP subsidies currently represent almost 60 billion euros each year, many of which fund intensive and factory agriculture.

The letter states that this money could be used for the recovery of biodiversity and the rural human population. It states that the EU must be a “pioneer in responding to these challenges” and that the CAP must be part of that response, rather than continuing to contribute to environmental degradation.

What do you think of the situation in EU agriculture? What can be the measures to be taken to improve the environment? (Leave comments on our blog)

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