New Rural Development Plans and the Environment: The Hidden Truth
8th February 2016, 09:00-18:00, European Economic & Social Committee, Brussels

ONLINE REGISTRATION: Click Here

BirdLife Europe and the European Environmental Bureau are pleased to invite you to a conference, on Rural Development and its implications for the environment, at the European Economic and Social Committee in Brussels on 8th February 2016. Amongst the speakers are EU Director General for the Environment, Daniel Calleja Crespo, and other representatives of DG Agriculture, DG Environment and DG Climate as well as a whole range of experts, farmers, NGOs and Member States representatives.

Event Background:

2016 will be the first year the new Rural Development (RD) programmes are rolled out on the ground, as in many Member States the adoption process is ongoing until the end of 2015. Rural Development is the second Pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) and it represents a more targeted and more effective part of the policy than Pillar 1 (Direct Payments), which still only represents about 30% of the overall CAP budget. The CAP reform, and in particular measures to make it greener, were meant to increase the delivery potential of RD and ensure better value for money; most of the environmental delivery potential on farmland comes from RD plans being implemented in the right way. Unfortunately, these so-called ‘greening’ measures were significantly watered down throughout the political co-decision process and it is unlikely they will contribute to enhancing the potential of Rural Development measures. At this stage it is therefore important to take stock of the planning process and assess whether any improvements have been made, at least on paper.

2016 also marks the second half of the period running up to our 2020 biodiversity commitments and a crucial year in terms of other environmental policy implementation (water, air, etc.). Making the link between the RDPs and these other policies is also of paramount importance, as the CAP as a whole is meant to integrate environmental policies.

The draft agenda for this event is now available to view here

If you want to hear about Rural Development plans and their delivery potential, join us for this event and for the debate!

How to pre-register?

• If you are interested in attending this event, you can register online here.
   
• For any practical questions, please contact Jessica Greenstein (Jessica.Greenstein@eeb.org) or Abraham Lombrana (Abraham.Lombrana@eeb.org).
   
• For questions related to the content please contact Trees Robijns (Trees.Robijns@birdlife.org).