Agriculture & Land Management

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Our Work

We are one of Europe's leading centres of excellence in the greening of the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Through our work on agriculture we inform and influence the development of policies with implications for the sustainable use of land, focusing on ways in which farming and forestry can help to protect Europe's biodiversity and natural resources as well as contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Encouraging the integration of environmental concerns within agricultural policy has been a core focus of IEEP's work on agriculture since the 1980s.

Over many thousands of years farming practices have transformed the character of the countryside, with resulting impacts, both positive and negative, on the environment. Agricultural activity currently accounts for about 41% of land use in the 27 EU Member States, with forestry accounting for another 37%. As such, agricultural policy is a major driver of land use and management decisions and plays an important role in determining the environmental condition of the farmed landscape.

Through our work we inform and influence the development of policies with implications for the sustainable use of land, focusing on ways in which farming and forestry can help to protect Europe’s biodiversity and natural resources as well as contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation efforts. Encouraging the integration of environmental concerns within agricultural policy has been a core focus of IEEP’s work on agriculture since the 1980s.

We have been instrumental in supporting the development of rural development policy as a core element of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), making the case for: a strategic approach to determining the focus of support for the environment in rural areas; the availability of environmentally focused measures such as the agri-environment measure; appropriate design, targeting and implementation of measures; adequate funding; and the introduction of a suitable framework for monitoring and evaluation.

We also focus on how direct income support payments to farmers under Pillar 1 of the CAP can be made more environmentally sustainable, through the use of policy measures such as cross compliance.

IEEP’s work on Agriculture & Land Management concentrates on three core activities:

Policy research, evaluation and analysis
Policy advice
Capacity building and training

Through our CAP2020 web-site we promote informed and independent analysis and commentary on the CAP and aim to engender an active debate and exchange of information on CAP reform.

More about our work in this area...

Latest in Agriculture & Land Management

Benefit Assessment Manual for Policy Makers: Assessment of Social and Economic Benefits of Enhanced Environmental Protection in the ENPI countries

This benefit Assessment Manual, originally for internal use, has been turned into a Benefit Assessment Manual for policy makers and experts for wider dissemination and provides an understanding of the methodologies applied for the country benefit assessments.
Analysis for European Neighbourhood Policy (ENP) Countries and the Russian Federation on social and economic benefits of enhanced environmental protection – Egypt Country Report

There are considerable benefits from taking immediate action to address the environmental problems facing Egypt, including in the area of air pollution, water quality and infrastructures and waste management, and safeguarding its natural heritage.
Regional Synthesis Report: ENPI South - Algeria, Egypt, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Morocco, occupied Palestinian territory, Syria and Tunisia

Investing in improving environmental standards in the ENPI South countries would offer huge benefits in terms of cost savings, improved security (food, water, energy and climate), and improved quality of life.
Mobilising Cereal Straw in the EU to Feed Advanced Biofuel Production

This IEEP report, commissioned by Novozymes, considers the existing barriers, environmental risks and opportunities and the potential agricultural policy stimuli needed in order to mobilise cereal straw for advanced biofuel production in the EU.
Delivering environmental benefits through entry-level agri-environment schemes in the EU

A new study of the 2007-13 agri-environment schemes across the whole of EU-27 provides the first typology of ‘entry-level’ agri-environment management and environmental objectives, plus a detailed insight into the design of entry-level agri-environment schemes and calculation of payment rates in seven Member States.
The Land-Use Implications of EU Bioenergy Policy: Going Beyond ILUC

A new IEEP briefing discusses some of the modelling work that is undertaken in support of quantifying the land use change impact of biofuel use.
Farmland Abandonment in the EU: an Assessment of Trends and Prospects

Assessment of recent agricultural abandonment in the EU and its causes, and likely future abandonment according to expected trends in drivers
Valuing and Conserving Ecosystem Services: a Scoping Case Study in the Danube Basin

The report for WWF provides an assessment of the value and status of some key ecosystem services in the Danube Basin, and some policy instruments to support them.
The Indirect Land Use Change Impact of the Use of Biofuels in the EU

A new IEEP report analyses the indirect land use change (ILUC) impact of the substantial additional biofuel usage that will be generated up to 2020 by the targets under the EU renewable energy Directive. The report has recently been updated to include all 27 NREAPs.
Scoping the Development of the Environmentally Sustainable Production Agenda – paper published

This IEEP paper ‘Scoping the Development of the Environmentally Sustainable Production Agenda’ for the Land Use Policy Group (LUPG) sets out the key issues and questions that need to be considered for the establishment of a Sustainable Production Agenda for Europe and explores the implications of these issues for the development of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) for the period 2013 – 2020...
Paper 2: Scoping the Development of the Environmentally Sustainable Production Agenda

This paper sets out the key issues and questions that need to be considered for the establishment of a Sustainable Production Agenda for Europe and explores the implications of these issues for the development ...
Paper 3: Developing a More Comprehensive Rationale for EU Funding for the Environment

This paper evaluates the case for using state intervention to reverse existing environmental degradation and deliver improvements, before focusing specifically on the rationale for intervening at the European ...
Reflecting Environmental Land Use Needs into EU Policy: Preserving and Enhancing the Environmental Benefits of 'Land Services' - Executive Summary

Executive Summary - The impacts of climate change, climate mitigation measures and other changes in land use will increase substantially over the next few decades, exacerbating European environmental challenges. ...
Reflecting Environmental Land Use Needs into EU Policy: Preserving and Enhancing the Environmental Benefits of 'Land Services'

The impacts of climate change, climate mitigation measures and other changes in land use will increase substantially over the next few decades, exacerbating European environmental challenges.To help ...
Reflecting Environmental Land Use Needs into EU Policy: Preserving and Enhancing the Environmental Benefits of Unfarmed Features on EU Farmland. Final Report.

This report provides a rationale for affording greater protection to Europe's stock of farmland features in the future. It examines the distribution and density of features that exist across Europe's agricultural ...
Climate change and the rural environment in a European context: Implications for land use and land use policy

IEEP has written a background paper for the LUPG/BfN conference on 'Future Policies for Rural Europe. 2013 and Beyond', held in Brussels, 19 - 20 September.All four conference papers can be accessed from ...
Land Abandonment, Biodiversity and the CAP

Report based on a seminar held in Sigulda, Latvia in October 2004 to discuss the possibilities for bringing abandoned high nature value farmland into management again thorough Pillar 1 and ...
Cross Compliance National Report: Czech Republic

An analysis of good farming practice in the Czech Republic
MEACAP: The Convention on Biodiversity and its Potential Implications for the Agricultural Sector in Europe

This paper introduces the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and aims at presenting commitments of the Parties to the Convention, which relate to agricultural activities and resources ...
MEACAP: First Stage Ground Rules

The purpose of this paper is to provide guidelines for the evaluation of technical and policy measures undertaken in the course of the MEACAP project. This should lead to a consistent ...

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Debating the Future of The Common Agricultural Policy

The IEEP's platform to share thoughtful commentary and analysis on the future development of European agriculture and rural development policy.

Highlights

The Indirect Land Use Change Impact of the Use of Biofuels in the EU

A new IEEP report analyses the indirect land use change (ILUC) impact of the substantial additional biofuel usage that will be generated up to 2020 by the targets under the EU renewable energy Directive. The report has recently been updated to include all 27 NREAPs.
The Land-Use Implications of EU Bioenergy Policy: Going Beyond ILUC

A new IEEP briefing discusses some of the modelling work that is undertaken in support of quantifying the land use change impact of biofuel use.