On birds, agriculture, and European policy, a conversation with Trees Robijns

The Common Agricultural Policy is one of the founding laws of the European Union. While it’s succeeded in feeding the European populace, what has been its impact on biodiversity?

Since World War II, the Common Agricultural Policy is the prevailing legislation on how to manage farmlands in Europe. Originally, the policy was written to ensure a sufficient food supply for Europeans. The resulting food security in Europe, however, came at the cost of the environment. Throughout the last 50 years, Europe has seen declines in wildlife populations and degradation of natural systems. While the European Union does have policies to resurrect natural areas and protect biodiversity, there is a lack of consistency in implementation of nature-focused policies in agricultural areas and a lack of funding for developing rural areas to sufficiently safeguard biodiversity.

Trees Robijns, as a Senior EU Agriculture & Bioenergy Policy Officer for BirdLife Europe, is at the forefront of efforts to review European policies on biodiversity, agriculture, and sustainability. She spoke with Landscapes Blog editor Lucila Fernandez about the connection between biodiversity and agriculture, and how BirdLife Europe is working to align European policies to truly address challenges for farmers and ecosystems.

“Agriculture has been able to boost its production, but biodiversity has been suffering. In some cases, agricultural yields have suffered, too, from problems of soil erosion, loss of fertile layer of the soil, water stress, and loss of natural predators, they have had to struggle on how to address these issues.” — Trees Robijns, BirdLife Europe

Listen here: http://bit.ly/CAPwTrees

Read More

Visit the BirdLife Europe website to learn more on their work in agriculture here

Learn about reforms to the Common Agriculture Policy

Trees Robijns is a Senior EU Agriculture & Bioenergy Policy Officer at BirdLife Europe. As part of a dynamic team of experts in biodiversity science and policy, Robjins’ conducts research and advocates for sound policies on biodiversity protection in European farmlands. 

Lucila Fernandez is Communications Associate with EcoAgriculture Partners and the editor of the Landscapes Blog.

Top photo from Colin on Flickr.

Featured music in the interview is “Light Up” from Erika Crymson, found on Free Music Archive.