AERU’s
Ecological Focus Area Calculator being put to work
European Commission’s science and
knowledge service uses system
developed at the University of Hertfordshire UH to assess benefits of
EFA implementation.
In a new
report published by the JRC (Joint
Research Centre), AERU
researchers and their collaborators have published the results of a
study in which their EFA (Ecological Focus Area) Calculator was used as
a tool to assess the impacts on biodiversity and other ecosystem
services of EFA implementation at a European level. The potential
impacts were assessed for NUTS3 regions across Europe, using data on
EFA implementation from 2015, and the results highlight a clear
relationship between the potential impacts and the types of EFA
implemented. The greatest benefits for biodiversity were predicted for
NUTS3 regions in which landscape features represent more than 50% of
the declared EFAs (particularly in relation to invertebrates, birds and
terrestrial plants), with good results also being indicated where more
than 70% of the declared EFA is land laying fallow. Conversely the
lowest scores were obtained for areas in which more than 70% of the EFA
is in the form of catch crops. NUTS3 areas in which landscape features
account for more than 50% of EFA declared, also performed better than
others as far as an overall score for non-biodiversity ecosystem
services is concerned; whilst good results in relation to the chemical
condition of freshwaters were also predicted where catch crops
constitute more than 70% of the EFA declared, and if more than 70% of
the declared EFA is fallow land, it is likely to be of benefit in
relation to pollination services.
This report then makes a valuable
contribution to ongoing attempts
to ensure that funding for agri-environmental measures actually results
in the benefits we desire. In the past, we have judged success simply
by measuring the uptake of particular options, rather than quantifiable
biodiversity or other environmental improvements. Increasingly however,
the European Commission is looking towards results-based
agri-environment schemes, in which there is a much closer link between
payment and environmental outcomes. Clearly then it is important for
policy makers to have a way of deciding what EFA measures should be
implemented in order to deliver the changes they wish to see, and the
tool developed by AERU will help them achieve this.
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