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Food security and environmental impacts
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The CAP reform needs to tackle two key challenges simultaneously: ‘greening’ the agriculture sector (reducing agriculture's environmental impacts) and ensuring food security.
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Agriculture
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Greening agricultural policy
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Agrophenology (CLIM 031) - Assessment published Nov 2012
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Flowering of several perennial crops has advanced by about two days per decade in recent decades.
Changes in timing of crop phenology are affecting crop production and the relative performance of different crop species and varieties.
The shortening of crop growth phases in many crops is expected to continue. The shortening of the grain filling phase of cereals and oilseed crops can be particularly detrimental to yield.
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Agrophenology
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Water-limited crop productivity (CLIM 032) - Assessment published Nov 2012
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Yields of several crops (e.g. wheat) are stagnating, whereas yields of other crops (e.g. maize in north Europe) are increasing; both effects are partly due to the observed climatic warming.
Extreme climatic events, including droughts and heat waves, have negatively affected crop productivity during the first decade of the 21st century, and this is expected to further increase yield variability under climate change.
Crop yields will be affected by the combined effects of changes in temperature, rainfall and atmospheric CO 2 concentration. Future climate change can lead to yield decreases or increases, depending on crop type and with considerable regional differences across Europe.
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Water-limited crop productivity
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Ammonia (NH3) emissions (APE 003) - Assessment published Oct 2010
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EEA-32 emissions of NH 3 have declined by 24% between the years 1990 and 2008. Agriculture was responsible for 94% of NH 3 emissions in 2008.
The reduction in emissions within the agricultural sector is primarily due to a reduction in livestock numbers (especially cattle) since 1990, changes in the handling and management of organic manures and from the decreased use of nitrogenous fertilisers. The reductions achieved in the agricultural sector have been marginally offset by the increased emissions which have occurred during this period in sectors such as transport and to a lesser extent the energy industry and other (non-energy) sectors.
In general, Member States have made excellent progress in reducing emissions below the level of their respective emission ceilings set in the National Emission Ceilings Directive (NECD). Twenty-two of the EU-27 Member States have already achieved their 2010 ceilings in 2008. Only Finland still needs to make significant further reductions in order to meet their respective ceilings under the NECD. In the three non-EU countries having emission ceilings set under the UNECE/CLRTAP Gothenburg protocol (Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), emissions of ammonia in 2008 were higher than the ceiling in two countries (Liechtenstein and Switzerland), whilst emissions in Norway were below the ceiling limit by 1%.
Environmental context: NH 3 contributes to acid deposition and eutrophication. The subsequent impacts of acid deposition can be significant, including adverse effects on aquatic ecosystems in rivers and lakes and damage to forests, crops and other vegetation. Eutrophication can lead to severe reductions in water quality with subsequent impacts including decreased biodiversity, changes in species composition and dominance, and toxicity effects. NH 3 also contributes to the formation of secondary particulate aerosols, an important air pollutant due to its adverse impacts on human health.
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Ammonia (NH3) emissions
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Emissions of acidifying substances (CSI 001) - Assessment published Oct 2010
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Emissions
of acidifying pollutants (nitrogen oxides (NO X ), sulphur oxides (SO 2 )
and ammonia (NH 3 ) have decreased significantly in most of the individual
EEA member countries between 1990 and 2008. Emissions
of SO 2 have decreased by 74 %, NO X by 34 % and NH 3
emissions by 24 % since 1990. The EU-27
is on track to meet its overall target to reduce emissions of SO 2
and NH 3 as specified by the EU's NEC Directive (NECD). However a
large number of individual Member States, and the EU as a whole, anticipate
missing the 2010 emission ceilings set for NO X in the NECD, Of the three non-EU countries having emission ceilings set under the
UNECE/CLRTAP Gothenburg protocol (Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland), both
Liechtenstein and Norway also reported NO X emissions in 2008 that
were substantially higher than their respective 2010 ceilings.
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Emissions of acidifying substances
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Emissions of ozone precursors (CSI 002) - Assessment published Oct 2010
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Emissions of all ground-level ozone precursor
pollutants have decreased across the EEA-32 region between 1990 and 2008; nitrogen
oxides (NO X ) by 34%, non-methane volatile organic compounds
(NMVOCs) by 45%, carbon monoxide (CO) by 56% and methane (CH 4 )
by 26%.
This decrease has been achieved mainly as a
result of the introduction of catalytic converters for vehicles. These
changes have significantly reduced emissions of NO X and CO from
the road transport sector, the main source of ozone precursor emissions.
The EU-27 is still some way from meeting its 2010
target to reduce emissions of NO X , one of the two ozone
precursors (NO X and NMVOC) for which emission limits exist
under the EU's NEC Directive (NECD). Whilst total NMVOC emissions in the
EU-27 were below the NECD limit in 2008, a number of individual Member
States anticipate missing their ceilings for one or either of these two
pollutants.
Of the three non-EU countries having emission ceilings set under the
UNECE/CLRTAP Gothenburg protocol (Liechtenstein,
Norway and Switzerland),
all three countries reported NMVOC emissions in 2008 that were lower than their
respective 2010 ceilings. However both Liechtenstein
and Norway
reported NO x emissions in 2008 that were substantially higher than
their respective 2010 ceilings.
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Emissions of ozone precursors
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AGRI_F03: Gross nutrient balance - outlook from EEA (Outlook 020) - Assessment published Jun 2007
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Nutrient surpluses are expected to be moderately reduced in 2020. Best practices for fertilizer handling could significantly reduce the environmental pressures which are associated with nutrient balances.
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AGRI_F03: Gross nutrient balance - outlook from EEA
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Agriculture: area under management practices potentially supporting biodiversity (SEBI 020) - Assessment published May 2010
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Europe has significant areas of High Nature Value (HNV) farmland, which provide habitats for a wide range of species. Such areas are under threat, however, from intensification of farming and land abandonment. The mere presence of HNV farmland is of course not proof of sustainable management but promoting conservation and sustainable farming practices in these areas is crucial for biodiversity. Map 1 presents the first estimate of HNV farmland distribution and can therefore not yet be analysed for trends. Agri-environment schemes have been used widely to make agriculture more sustainable. Not all agri-environment measures are explicitly targeted on biodiversity, however, and further analysis is required to determine their effectiveness. Organic farming has developed rapidly since the beginning of the 1990s and continues to do so. While it is difficult to assess its impact on biodiversity it is assumed that this type of farming reduces stress on ecosystems and provides a wider range of niches for farmland species.
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Agriculture: area under management practices potentially supporting biodiversity
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Agriculture: nitrogen balance (SEBI 019) - Assessment published May 2010
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Agricultural nitrogen surpluses (the difference between all nutrient inputs and outputs on agricultural land) show a declining trend, thereby potentially reducing environmental pressures on soil, water and air. Many countries, however, still maintain a large surplus.
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Agriculture: nitrogen balance
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Area under organic farming (CSI 026) - Assessment published Nov 2005
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The share of organic farming is increasing strongly and now stands at about 4 % of agricultural area in the fifteen older EU Member States and the EFTA countries. EU agri-environment programmes and consumer demand have been key factors for this strong increase. The share of organic land remains far below 1 % in most of the ten new Member States and the accession countries.
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Area under organic farming
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