CountrySide 156 N° 165 Pantone 390 CMYK 24 / 0 / 98 / 8 SEPTEMBER-OCTOBER 2016 - BIMONTHLY - EN European Landowners’ Organization Pantone 364 CMYK 73 / 9 / 94 / 39 Rural Development revisited in Cork Phil HOGAN, © European Union, 2016 Commissioner for Agriculture and Rural Development CountrySide 165 Editorial Thierry de l’ESCAILLE, Secretary General Now that the European Union has formally commit- Contents ted itself to keeping global warming below 2 degrees Celsius, it is time for us to consider how we can best achieve this monumental task. While we agree that 3 Rural Development revisited in Cork all sectors of our different economies and societies must contribute, it is clear that the European coun- 6 Sustainable futures for Europe’s heritage in tryside has a major role to play, both as a source of cultural landscapes: carbon emissions, but more importantly as the major Applying a landscape approach to land-use carbon offset asset Europe has to offer. science and policy In order to unlock all this potential, it is vital that Milestone reached: Wildlife Estates Label 8 Europe engages much more with the private sector in exceeds 1 million hectares mark order to stimulate conservation actions by all stake- holders. It has never been the case that only the NGO 9 Keep Calm and Let Africa Speak! community can manage land properly. Private actors, 10 Wild flowering landscapes & bee-friendly such as those who have the Wildlife Estate label, farm machinery announced as winners of show that the private sector is more than competi- this year’s European Bee Award tive, especially as they often do not have the same access to state funding. 12 Education, Training & Innovation European Historic Houses annual event To involve the private sector more means that Eu- rope and national governments must seek a better 14 Fish, Mushrooms, and Forestry: YFCS Gen- understanding of their motivations and drivers, not eral Assembly Vienna 2016 lock them out for the sake of an outdated orthodoxy that believes only in the public cause and the public 15 Due to French Overprotection, Chinese Are purse. At the 11th plenary session of our Wildlife Es- Buying Our Farmland tates label in Denmark, we have once again seen the Book extraordinary potential of the private contribution. 2 Semences hors-la-loi. All we need now is the right set of policy solutions in La biodiversité confisquée. order to unlock it. EU: You cannot stop terrorism by restricting legal gun ownership. You can still sign the online petition 16 Diary dates © J. Nagy CountrySide 165 A. BUCKWELL, C. PIRZIO-BIROLI, F. FISCHLER, T. de L’ESCAILLE and C. BÜREN at the high level workshops © European Union, 2016 Rural Development revisited in Cork In November 1995 the European Commission decided to host a conference on Rural Development in the Irish city of Cork. This turned out to be an influential event in the development of the CAP. All the main stakeholders with an interest in the European countryside participated and together produced a concise two-page Cork Declaration called “A living countryside”. The Agriculture Commissioner of the day, Franz FISCHLER, stayed in the background at that event, but he carried forward the principal idea in the declaration that sustainable development in Europe’s rural areas should rise in the EU’s priorities. The result was that in his first major reform of the CAP, Agenda 2000, the two-Pillar CAP was born. This galvanised the principle that rural development was a Pillar of the CAP rather than a complicated accompaniment to the primary support regime. Allan BUCKWELL and David BALDOCK Institute for European Environmental Policy n subsequent reforms the second Pillar So there were risks in gathering 300 the groups then produced and organised was expanded in resources and meas- stakeholders and experts again in Cork ideas about the policy developments nec- Iures were based on the principles of this September, twenty years later, for essary to realise the full potential of Eu- co-financed, programmed, multi-annual a second Cork Rural Development con- rope’s rural areas. There was a continu- measures regionally tailored by the Mem- ference. The conference was opened by al feedback between the groups and a ber States to the needs of their rural re- Commissioner HOGAN who of course was drafting team led by Heino von MEYER gions. These were precisely the principles on home territory, together with COM (OECD) who gradually worked up a new spelled out in the 10-point declaration of AGRI Chairman Czesław Adam SIEKIER- Cork declaration distilling the output of Cork I. SKI, and the President of the Agriculture the groups. Council Gabriela MATEČNÁ, the Slovak However, in more recent years rural de- Minister of Agriculture and Rural devel- The five page declaration “A Better Life in velopment has not enjoyed so much of opment. None were in a position to make Rural Areas” contained these ten points: the European limelight. Ever since the new announcements about imminent or 2007/8 commodity price spikes atten- desired policy developments. This meant 1 Promoting Rural Prosperity tion, not unnaturally, has tended to focus that the ideas and the impetus had to 2 Strengthening Rural Value Chains 3 on agricultural production, its productiv- come from the participants and a well or- 3 Investing in Rural Viability and Vitality ity and capability of providing for a grow- ganised facilitation team. 4 Preserving the Rural Environment and ing and enriching population. In the 2013 Simplification reform the slow evolution of the CAP to- The action took place in four parallel 5 Managing Natural Resources wards greater resources for Rural Devel- workshops dealing with the themes: 6 Encouraging Climate Action opment was halted. Some actions previ- • Jobs, Growth and Investment in the 7 Boosting Knowledge and Innovation ously considered better suited to Rural agri-food supply chain and the wider 8 Enhancing Rural Governance Development were switched to Pillar 1 rural economy 9 Advancing Policy Delivery (for example greening, help for areas of • Rural environment, climate and water 10 Improving Performance and Accounta- natural constraints and for young farm- • Targeting innovation to farmers’ bility ers), and five Member States choose to needs switch substantial pillar 2 funds back to • Rural viability and vitality This unusually bottom-up and spontane- Pillar 1 direct supports shrinking their Ru- ous approach was appreciated by most of ral Development programmes. These workshops occupied the bulk of the the delegates, especially as there was a conference. The participants, who came concerted effort to harvest the ideas on Meanwhile other preoccupations, such as from all areas of the rural economy, and the various tables, and underlining syn- migration, sluggish economic progress, all parts of the EU, worked together con- ergies rather than conflicts. Lying be- and now Brexit have occupied the Euro- structively. The general framework was hind the Declaration there was a shared pean centre stage. Within the rural policy first to identify the potential opportuni- sense that rural policy needed new vigour world it has been Pillar 1 of the CAP, the ties under each of the four themes. Sec- and a refreshed sense of direction. Oth- crisis in dairy and other markets, safety ond, the work groups considered the driv- erwise there was a danger of it being rel- nets, greening, simplification and concern ing forces acting on these themes and any egated to a lower tier of EU priorities and about the budget that have absorbed the obstacles to their development. In the the budget could decline with it, either in air time and the attention of ministers. third and final sessions of the workshops the course of the next MFF review or sub- CountrySide 165 © European Union, 2016 sequently. In addition, the logic of Cork There was a confident tone in language er rural economy, the better integration 1 was ready to be taken further. Many about improved performance, smart ad- of migrants and wider social inclusion as delegates seemed to agree with Franz ministration rather than mere simplifi- well as shorter supply chains. FISCHLER who, in his remarks in the cation, addressing the climate and en- closing session, argued that rural policy vironmental agenda with more vigour, Solutions were diverse rather than sim- should be the main driver going forward, digitisation and the need for policies to plistic. In his closing remarks, Commis- implicitly incorporating Pillar 1 agricultur- be accountable and fit for purpose. Ru- sioner HOGAN backed the call for the ru- al support as a single element of a wider ral societies are not inherently backward ral proofing of all EU policies. More in- and more strategic frame. and provide much more for society than formation, training, engagement and fa- is generally recognised. While there were cilitation, alongside greater awareness The Declaration itself asserts the case for certainly calls for more and better fo- amongst consumers and others in value adopting the second Pillar approach for cussed support this was accompanied by chains were approaches that cropped up the whole of the CAP. “The architecture demands for rural identity to be celebrat- in nearly every workshop. Administra- of the CAP must be based on a common ed with greater pride and stakeholders to tions are often reluctant to give these 4 strategic and programming framework work together more effectively to secure softer measures much priority, not least that provides for targeting all interven- their place in any re consideration of Euro- because of the challenge of measuring tions to well-defined economic, social and pean priorities. results. However, the Cork discussions environmental objectives” (from Point 8 indicate that it would be most helpful if on governance). At the same time it is clear that the po- this culture could be changed.