Author Archives: EVENOR - TECH

Nature value bargaining (Luonnonarvokauppa)

Summary

The “Nature value bargaining” was tested during METSO pilot programme 2002-2007. The aim was to operationalize markets for biodiversity and natural values. Forest owners received subsidy for making the contract. The subsidy level was based on both the biodiversity values of the stand and timber stock. In addition, forest owners’ goals affected their price demands, improving the cost efficiency of the system. After the pilot period, the instrument was abandoned and replaced with more traditional AES due to EU-level legislative reasons.

Objectives

The objective of nature value bargaining was to establish markets for the natural/biodiversity values of forests. In these markets, forest owners are active and voluntary participants who offer valuable areas from the forests they own (Gustafsson ja Nummi 2004). Owners are encouraged to provide natural values by making temporary contracts with authorities (Forestry Centre or Environmental Centre) and by receiving a subsidy for providing the nature values. Basically, private forests are thus rented/leased to state for providing natural values fort he predefined period.

Public Goods

Climate regulation - carbon storage — **Climate regulation – carbon storage**

Nature value bargaining (Luonnonarvokauppa)

Problem description

The voluntary instrument (being part of the planned METSO biodiversity protection program for Southern Finland) was developed as a response to increasing societal understanding that negative biodiversity development needs to be considered more seriously globally and nationally. In particular, it was considered as a solution to Southern Finland, which is dominated by family owned forests. In Southern Finland forests have been managed dominantly for timber production. In this situation, establishing large continuous protection areas was considered to be challenging. The development was also affected by the experiences gained in Natura 2000 process, where the top-down approach and poor informing of forest owners led to conflicts. As a whole, state authorities were active in driving and developing new and more acceptable solutions. However, the nature value bargaining was an innovation that was developed in regional level (South-Western part of Finland, Satakunta) and it was piloted when the instruments for the METSO programme were tested during the pilot phase 2002- 2007. After the pilot phase, the METSO programme was launched in 2008, but the nature value bargaining was not among the instruments anymore.

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LIFE: Projects to improve the environment

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An investment of more than 110 million of euros is the latest approval of the European Commission in the projects of the LIFE program, the tool that has been in operation since 1992 to protect the care of the environment and the climate in the EU. The projects of this call contribute to the ecological recovery after the COVID-19 pandemic and support the objectives established in the European Green Deal

The projects approved on this occasion have been selected after a call for proposals that was made in 2020. Czechia, Cyprus, Denmark, Slovenia, Estonia, Finland, France, Latvia, Lithuania, the Netherlands and Poland are the eleven EU countries where these investments will be ‘injected’.

LIFE, an opportunity

The European Green Deal serves to provide direct support to projects across the EU and restores nature to entire regions and countries.

The integrated projects of the LIFE Program are one of the main tools to make the ecological transition a reality by introducing concrete changes in practice.

The LIFE Program is the European Union Program for the Environment and Climate Action for the period 2021 -2027 (It has co-financed more than 5 500 projects across the EU) and is one of the main contributors to the European Green, whose objective is:

to transform the EU into a fair and prosperous society, with a modern, resource-efficient and competitive economy, in which there is no net greenhouse gas emissions greenhouse in 2050 and in which economic growth is decoupled from resource use.
protect, conserve and enhance the natural capital of the EU, and protect the health and well-being of citizens from risks and impacts related to the environment and climate.

Conservation objectives

The projects chosen by the EU have certain objectives to meet. The first of these is a project in France that pursues nature conservation, introducing measures to halt and reverse the decline of biodiversity in the Grand East region by creating three pilot forest areas. A second project will mitigate the adverse effects of human activities that threaten Finland’s marine and coastal biodiversity and improve the management of the national network of marine protected areas.

In terms of air quality, a Polish project will use measures to improve the overall air quality in the Silesia region, which has one of the most polluted atmospheres in Europe, by replacing small domestic solid-fuel heating appliances with less polluting alternatives.

With regard to waste prevention and resource recovery, in Cyprus, a project will aim to improve infrastructure and collection systems for recyclable and biodegradable waste. In Latvia, separate waste collection and reuse of municipal waste will be improved. For its part, in Denmark, a project will work on the prevention of waste and the creation of better regulations on waste. Slovenia will be the country where a project will seek to achieve a higher percentage of recycling of non-hazardous waste from construction and demolition, among other measures.

Forest conversion from coniferous to deciduous stands – an eco-account case

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Summary

The main focus of this initiative is to increase the percentage of deciduous trees through reforestation, forest restructuring and a targeted promotion of native trees in view of enhanced species and habitat protection. Ecological forest conversion takes place in a damaged coniferous forest of 252 hectares in the municipality Krailling in Bavaria. A mainly subterranean industrial use is combined with the creation, upgrading and enlargement of important habitats for wild plants and animals. Thanks to the recognition of the enhancement activities on approximately 100 hectares as private eco account scheme, the forest conversion is eligible as anticipated offsetting measure. An entry into the land register at the moment when developers make use of the already implemented eco-accounts measures to offset impacts arising from their projects secures the long-term preservation of the forest. The creation of an oak and hornbeam forest associated with wild fruit is complemented by the creation of forest aisles and nutrient-poor grassland in-between the forest pieces.

Objectives

Biodiversity protection in the long run through:
development of a private eco-account in southern Germany that is by its surface one of the largest ones;
long-term preservation of a mosaic of forest pieces and nutrient-poor forest aisles;
compatibility of industrial use and high ecological value in one area.

Public Goods

Forest conversion from coniferous to deciduous stands - an eco-account case — Forest conversion from coniferous to deciduous stands – an eco-account case

Problem description

The hurricane “Niklas” caused severe damages in the forest on 31st March 2015. Bark beetles damaged the coniferous trees further. This was taken as an opportunity to schedule a large- scale forest conversion. No public funds are available as the forest is declared as a special area due to the industrial use with tank storage facilities in the underground. The idea to create an eco-account was born to enable the forest conversion in direction of the natural forest cover.

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A remarkable increase in organic farming

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Organic agriculture is a production system that, through the rational management of natural resources, without the use of chemical synthesis products, provides healthy and abundant food, maintains or increases soil fertility and biological diversity.

It must be recognized that its appearance and expansion through the spacious agricultural and It is the result of the individual action of farmers.

The Research Institute of Organic Agriculture (FiBL) and IFOAM – Organics International have published a report entitled “The World of Organic Agriculture Statistics and Emerging Trends 2022”; where they have collected and analysed data from different sources in order to know the status and evolution of organic agriculture in the world. The first thing that the publication tells us is that the surface of organic farming has followed the growing trend, reaching a new record for the year 2020.

Globally, in 2020 it was achieved that the1.6% of the world’s agricultural land were organic. The highest organic shares of total agricultural land, by region, were in Oceania (9.7 %) and in Europe (3.4 %; European Union: 9.2 %).

More than 74.9 million hectares of organic agricultural land were registered in 2020, in which are included areas under conversion. Regions with the largest areas of organic farmland were Oceania (35.9 million hectares, nearly half of the world’s organic farmland) and Europe (17.1 million hectares, 23 %); Latin America had 9.9 million hectares (13.3 %), followed by Asia (6.1 million hectares, 8.2 %); North America (3.7 million hectares, 5.0 %) and Africa (2.1 million hectares, %).

By countries, those more organic farmland of the worldwide were placed in Australia (35.7 million hectares), Argentina (4.5 million hectares) and Uruguay (2.7 million hectares)

What are the main crops?

This interesting report informs us that more than two-thirds of the 74.9 million hectares of organic farmland in 2020 were grassland (more than 50.8 million hectares). The area of arable land (arable land with 13.1 million hectares and permanent crops with 5.2 million hectares) constituted 18.4 million hectares, which represented about a quarter of the organic agricultural land.

But if you want to know the crops by continent, we highlight recommend that you consult the documentation directly.

What main products are consumed in the EU?

At the end of 2020, 14.9 million hectares of agricultural land in the European Union (14.9 million hectares) were managed organically by almost 350,000 farmers. In the EU, 9.2 percent of agricultural land was organic. Of these, we can highlight to the countries with the largest organic agriculture areas were France (2.5 million hectares), Spain (2.4 million hectares) and Italy (2.1 million hectares).

Although the growth of the EU organic Agri-food market increased, imports of organic Agri-food products decreased slightly between 2019 and 2020. Nevertheless, in 2020, 2.79 million metric tons of organic Agri-food products were imported (1, 9 less than the 2.85 million MT imported in 2019).

Among these products, there was an increase in imports of organic tropical fruits and rice, which was offset by lower imports of other cereals, oil cakes and sugar. The ranking of top trading partners also changed, with China and Ukraine is losing their top spots to Ecuador and the Dominican Republic.

It is also worth noting that the main importing and consuming EU Member States in 2020 were the Netherlands, Germany and Belgium..

Hopeful data

There is no doubt that the data is encouraging and that the growing trend of organic farming spaces seems to continue to grow over the years; which is obviously due to the fact that users are increasingly demanding healthier foods for their families.

As we have seen in several case studies of the CONSOLE project, the contractual relationships between farmers, public administrations; as well as with private sectors, it will allow the promotion and growth of both sustainable products and rural torritories of EU (and also beyond aur boundaries).

And as an example, is the case of study “Carta del Mulino” where has introduced a value chain contract solution for farmers supplying in common wheat to the mark of the famous company of Barilla, must comply with ten rules (ISCC PLUS certification to preserve biodiversity, crop rotation, minimum percentage of area allocated to flowers, selection of specific varieties, certified seeds, no use of neonicotinoids, no use of glyphosate, batch segregation and traceability, batch storage. separated from other production, added value distributed throughout the supply chain)..

We will describe more case studies in the following publications.

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Environmental improvement across a whole catchment: Esk Valley

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Summary

The network covers the whole catchment and 30% of the land area is farmed by Countryside Stewardship Facilitation Fund (CSFF) network members. A key focus is what can be done to improve water quality across the catchment, especially as it is a salmon and trout river and sediment in the water is a major factor in the lack of recruitment of juvenile migratory fish. Water quality is generally good across the catchment and of Good Ecological Status according to the Water Framework Directive. Many other additional environmental improvements have been added; sedimentation, nitrate and phosphate pollution due to the agricultural and farming activities in the area, and complement the main focus. For example wading birds benefit from the network tackling issues of water quality.

Objectives

Support for the Pearl Mussel and Salmon Recovery Project;
Improvements to water quality across the whole catchment by tackling sediment and pollution issues;
Maintenance and support for historic and traditional National Park landscapes and features;
Address disconnect between maintenance of the iconic traditional landscapes in the catchment and the systems designed to reward this;
Improving skills and understanding of issues and the measures to tackle them;

Public Goods

Environmental improvement across a whole catchment: Esk Valley

Problem description

There is a long history of action in the River Esk catchment seeking to improve its ecological status so that an iconic species previously found in the river such as the Freshwater Pearl Mussel and species such as salmon and migratory trout do not ultimately go extinct. As a salmon and trout river that has supported recreational fishing, previous action and funding has often focused at the economic level. The CSFF is focused on the environmental and ecological aspects of the catchment, specifically from the perspective of those farming and managing the land. The CSFF aims to support efforts by the Esk Pearl Mussel and Salmon Recovery Project to re-introduce the Pearl Mussel to bolster the remnants of the existing population, through improving the water quality in the river. For this iconic species ‘good’ is not good enough, pristine conditions are required. This needs collective action from farmers in both upper and lower reaches of the catchment to reduce pollution and sedimentation problems.

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CAP’s 60th anniversary

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In Europe, we are in luck because the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) has turned 60 at a turbulent time for the Primary Sector due to the pandemic, the weather or the crisis in raw materials.

The CAP, which was born after the Second World War in order to ensure the supply of food and decent income for producers, reaches its 60th anniversary on the verge of extensive reform.

Six decades of lights and shadows, reflecting the evolution of Europe, with its agricultural modernization, on the positive side, but with pending issues such as profitability; the importance of female role; generational change or the balanced distribution of value between farmers, industry and supermarkets, and also degraded environments and climate change.

The CAP directs the actions of some ten million companies in the European Union and 22 million workers and has 387,000 million euros in the new budget until 2027.

A little history

Although there were previous steps, the CAP was born in 1962 in the founding states of the European common market (France, Germany, Italy, Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg) and is now applied in 27 countries (after the departure of the United Kingdom). It was made after the food shortage after World War II, in order to rationalize production. Two decades later it changed, in the face of productive expansion and in 1984, in the face of surpluses, the then European Community approved measures to adjust supply to demand..

In 1992, the PAC was the object of what is considered the greatest reform, the so-called MacSharry, because the price premium policy was reoriented towards income support through direct payments. In addition, it is clearly oriented towards environmentalist agrarian policies.

In 2003, the European Union reformed the agrarian policy in order to introduce the current single payment “decoupled” from the quantity produced. At the moment, farmers and ranchers are governed by an extension of the 2013 reform, which included a “greening” or greening of payments, that from 2023 they will be greener.

The CAP culminated in 2021, which will be applied between 2023-2027, is the second most ambitious of its existence and establishesPlanesANDnational strategic ones, which implies more responsibility to the Governments.

Set of objectives for the Common Agricultural Policy.

to increase agricultural productivity by promoting technicalprogress and by ensuring the rationaldevelopmentofagriculturalproductionand the optimumutilizationofthefactors of production, in particular labor;
to ensure a fair standard of living for the agricultural community in particular by increasing the individual earnings of persons engaged in agriculture;
yo stabilize markets;
to ensure the availability of supplies;
to ensure that supplies reach consumers at reasonable prices.

Source: Henrik Zobbe

A website for the celebration

The European Commission has created a web portal to report on its recent sixty birthday, where you can enjoy information related to the CAP both past and most recently, with information on the leadership of our exports, as well as offering opinions on different stakeholders.

CAP anniversary