FOOD FOR THOUGHT
‘common’ farmland species have more than
halved since 1980, compared to a 15% decline
across all species assessed.
Drill deeper and the story gets scarier still.
A study published this spring revealed that
the French countryside has lost one-third
of its birds in just 15 years. Once-ubiquitous
farmland species such as Eurasian Skylark
Alauda arvensis, Common Whitethroat Sylvia
communis and Ortolan Bunting Emberiza
hortulana have vanished. Even generalist species
thriving overall, such as Common Woodpigeon
Columba palumbus, are declining on farmland.
“Our countryside is becoming a veritable
desert”, observes Benoit Fontaine, from France’s
National Museum of Natural History. The finger
wavers towards agricultural intensification,
specifically the practice of drenching vast
monocultures in pesticides. To feed ourselves,
we are starving birds.
The French experience echoes elsewhere.
In Germany’s agricultural landscape, three-
quarters of flying insects have disappeared from
nature reserves in 27 years. The suspicion is
they perished when leaving protected areas to
venture into chemical-soaked farmland. In the
UK, the 2016 State of Nature report identified
“policy-driven agricultural change” as “by far the
most significant driver of [wildlife] declines”.
A combine harvester
harvesting wheat in Spain
Photo Tono Balaguer
0
Eurasian Skylark
Alauda arvensis
Photo Timothy Collins
2
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This emphasis on ‘policy-driven’ change is
key, says Brunner: “The Common Agricultural
Policy (CAP) has been a huge driver of
intensification across the EU. Despite reforms
in the early 2000s, it still systematically favours
large producers over small, and intensive
production over extensive. Moreover, it
disproportionately benefits particularly
environmentally harmful sectors such as
intensive cattle-rearing.” The CAP’s nefarious
consequences are unequivocal. Former Soviet-
bloc countries that joined the EU in 2004
and implemented the CAP already exhibit
pronounced declines in farmland birds. Those
that stayed outside the EU (and the CAP) do not.
The much-derided policy is currently up for
renegotiation. This presents an opportunity.
Galvanised by NGOs including BirdLife, a quarter
of a million EU citizens have demanded radical
change. The Commission proved deaf to their
pleas. Assessing its formal proposal, published
in June, Brunner fears that there is “a big risk
of going backwards to the ugly policies of the
1980s.”
The Commission proposal is now subject
to negotiation among EU Member States, and
with the European Parliament. BirdLife will be
lobbying for three key outcomes. “We need
ring-fenced investment for biodiversity –
because wildlife is a public good that farmers
struggle to deliver without financial incentives”,
says Brunner. “We need rid of perverse subsidies
birdlife • jul-sep 2018