Central and Eastern European countries are key farmland biodiversity strongholds. Their EU accession resulted in rapid increase of agricultural production intensity, and accelerated declines of common farmland bird populations. Increased spending for Agri-environment schemes did not halt these declines.
A new paper explores bird monitoring data and the role of EU policies on farmland birds
September 9, 2024
The intensity of agriculture in seven countries that entered the EU in 2004 and 2007 increased after the accession. Population trends of farmland birds started to decline, and the population levels reached lower levels than before the accession. The paper suggests that the adverse impacts of agricultural intensification overrode the possible benefits of EU policy measures aimed at supporting biodiversity.
Central and Eastern European countries are key farmland biodiversity strongholds. Their EU accession resulted in rapid increase of agricultural production intensity, and accelerated declines of common farmland bird populations. Increased spending for Agri-environment schemes did not halt these declines.
The negative effect of the intensification of agriculture on biodiversity has been well documented. The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is particularly important in the EU. While CAP, despite several reforms, still supports the intensification, on the other side, tools within the CAP, such as agri-environmental and climatic schemes (AECS), are designed to mitigate the negative effect of intensive agriculture on biodiversity. Further, Birds and Habitats directives are intended to protect the most threatened parts of European nature, and they set up a network of protected areas called Natura2000, which may support wider biodiversity as well.
There is enough evidence of CAP’s negative effects, some evidence of CAP’s positive effects, and some evidence of Natura2000’s positive effects. Yet, the number of farmland birds keeps declining across Europe. Obviously, more facts are needed to understand the process, and the accession of new member states to the EU in 2004 and 2007, respectively, is a good opportunity to explore the effect of EU policies.
In the paper published in Science of the Total Environment, we present the results of such explorations. We used data on population changes of 28 common farmland birds from breeding bird monitoring schemes in 7 countries in Central and Eastern Europe that entered the EU in 2004 (Czechia, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, and Poland) or 2007 (Bulgaria). Data on agriculture intensity, spending on AECS, and weather data were also available for the analyses.
We have shown that while the intensity of agriculture increased after the accession to the EU, the population trends of farmland birds started to decline, and the population levels reached lower levels than before the accession. Interestingly, AECS spending, which indicates the effort put into conserving biodiversity within the CAP, increased as well.
It appears that, indeed, bird population trends (controlled for the effect of species traits and conservation status) accelerated to decline in the new EU member states after the accession to the EU when CAP fully came into effect there. It also appears that despite increasing funding for AECS, this can not overrule the negative impact of the intensification. It is possible that AECS do not deliver their expected outputs either because they are poorly designed (but the design has improved from the past) and/or it is possible that uptake of AECS+ among farmers is insufficient.
Reif J., Gamero A., Hološková A., Aunins A., Chodkiewicz T., Hristov I., Kurlavičius P., Leivits M., Szép T., Voříšek P. 2024. Accelerated farmland bird population declines in European countries after their recent EU accession. Science of The Total Environment, 946, 174281.
Read the paper here.
Petr Voříšek