Transition Pathways Towards Sustainability in Agriculture by
This book focuses on understanding farming transition pathways towards sustainability, using case studies from Europe. It assesses the utility of the multi-level perspective in transition theory for addressing contemporary issues and identifies future research needs, making it an essential read for researchers of rural or agricultural change.
Looking Beyond the Horizon by
Agriculture is one of the most climate-sensitive of all economic sectors. In many countries, such as the four examined in Looking Beyond the Horizon, the risks of climate change are an immediate and fundamental problem because the majority of the rural population depends either directly or indirectly on agriculture for its livelihood. The risks of climate change to agriculture cannot be effectively dealt with-hand the opportunities cannot be effectively exploited-without a clear plan for aligning agricultural policies with climate change, developing the capabilities of key agricultural institutions, and investing in infrastructure, support services, and on-farm improvements. Developing such a plan ideally involves a combination of high-quality quantitative analysis; consultation with key stakeholders, particularly farmers and local agricultural experts; and investments in both human and physical capital. The diverse experiences of Albania, the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia, Moldova, and Uzbekistan, highlighted in this book, show that it is possible to develop a plan to meet these objectives-one that is comprehensive and empirically driven as well as consultative and quick to develop. The approach of this volume is predicated on strong country ownership and participation, and is defined by its emphasis on 'win-win' or 'no regrets' solutions to the multiple challenges posed by climate change for the farmers of Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The solutions are measures that increase resilience to future climate change, boost current productivity despite the greater climate variability already occurring, and limit greenhouse gas emissions-also known as 'climate-smart agriculture'. Looking Beyond the Horizon draws on the experiences of applying this approach to these four nations in Eastern Europe and Central Asia with the goal of helping each country mainstream climate change adaptation into its agricultural policies, programmes, and investments. The book also highlights the projected impacts of climate change on agriculture in these countries through forecast variations in temperature and rainfall patterns, which are crucial to farming, and offers a map for navigating the risks and realising the opportunities. Finally, a detailed explanation of the approach, as well as lessons learned from its implementation, is provided for those who would like to implement similar programmes in other countries of Europe, Central Asia, or anywhere else in the world.
Climate Change Adaptation in Eastern Europe by
This book focuses on managing risks and building resilience to climate change, showcasing experiences from research, field projects and best practices to foster climate change adaptation in Eastern Europe that can be implemented elsewhere. Climate change affects countries in Eastern Europe, i.e. the Western Balkans and Southeast Europe in a variety of ways. Apart from severe floods, there are reports of decreasing water reserves in the southern regions, and of gradual changes in biodiversity and agricultural production. In the South Caucasus area, for instance, climate change models project a decline in precipitation and suggest that it will continue to become drier this century. Many Eastern European countries, especially the non-EU ones, have weak national climate policies, and transboundary collaborations, as well as limited public engagement in matters related to climate change. As a result, climate change poses a serious threat to their economic stability and development and to the sustainable development of the region. The above state of affairs illustrates the need for a better understanding of how climate change influences Eastern Europe, and for the identification of processes, methods and tools that may help the countries and the communities in the region to adapt. There is also a perceived need to showcase successful examples of how to cope with the social, economic and political problems posed by floods/droughts in the region, especially ways of increasing the resilience of agriculture systems and of communities. Addressing this need, the book presents papers written by scholars, social practitioners and members of government agencies involved in research and/or climate change projects in Eastern Europe.
Soil Quality, Sustainable Agriculture and Environmental Security in Central and Eastern Europe by
Agriculture is a crucial component of the economies of many of the countries in transition from a centrally-planned to a market economy and the sector is by no means immune to the environmental and socioeconomic problems confronting the countries as a whole. The concept of sustainable development provides a convenient framework for the formulation of government environmental policy for such countries, especially those of them that aspire to join the EU and would thus be expected to meet EU environmental standards. For agriculture, this inevitably involves appropriate strategies for balancing crop and animal production while protecting the quality of the national soil and water resources. There is thus an urgent need to compile, exchange and evaluate current information on the quality of soils in these countries, and to assess the potential impact of new management practices on the soil and on the wider environment.
Landscape, Heritage, and Conservation by
This volume provides a unique concentration on heritage and conservation issues within European Union policy contexts, as seen from the perspectives of farmers and other stakeholders, such as planners, local authorities, national governments, and the public at large. Detailed chapters focus on contemporary processes in Scotland, Ireland, France, Spain, Germany, Italy, as well as comparative materials that include Norway. The book's ethnographic approach and its focus on the viewpoints of farmers, especially in Less Favored Areas within the EU, give this book its particular character as a fresh contribution to both conservation and EU studies. This book is part of the European Anthropology Series, edited by Pamela J. Stewart and Andrew Strathern, Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh.
Socioeconomic and Environmental Impacts on Agriculture in the New Europe by
This book looks at agriculture and the environment, placed within the dynamic context of post-communist societal change and entry into the European Union (EU). Scrieciu explores developments in eleven Central and Eastern European (CEE) countries and argues for agriculture's natural place in these societies. The history of these countries is significant in how it has shaped the institutions and influenced the outcomes. In many cases, during communism, agriculture was not considered a strategic branch for a nation's development. An ecological consciousness did not figure high on the agendas of authoritarian regimes. After 1990, some post-communist farm economies progressed slower than others, and environmental pressures mostly diminished with agricultural restructuring. In parts of CEE, increases in numbers of low-input small farms have resulted in some, though largely unintended, ecological benefits. A dual environmental challenge has nevertheless surfaced. On one hand, environmentally unsustainable practices have been attributed to some low-input farming. On the other hand, risks of farm over-intensification and resource overexploitation are on the rise. Also, environmental regulatory and institutional frameworks are not always effectively in place. EU membership is not creating the anticipated benefits for farm growth. There are a number of systemic structural barriers preventing many farmers from drawing on Common Agricultural Policy incentives and support. The presence of many vulnerable poor farms is clearly problematic, particularly economically. However, small-scale farms could be made more acceptable and profitable by ensuring EU policies acknowledge their value and by building institutions to support alternative farm growth strategies, aside from the traditional European model of individual corporate farm expansion. The voluntary uptake of grassroots rural cooperation and farm associations may represent such an alternative. Future European farm policy reforms need to reach the small and vulnerable, and better tackle issues of farm equity, poverty, and agricultural sustainability in the new Europe. This is a timely contribution as this type of "transition" has just begun. This book should be of use to students and researchers looking at agricultural and environmental economics, post-communist rural societal change, European integration and the Common Agricultural Policy. It may be also useful and of high relevance to policy analysts and those involved in agricultural and rural development policy-making in the region or in other countries facing similar problems.
The Common Agricultural Policy after the Fischler Reform by
Providing an updated state of the art report on the effects of the 2003 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform, this volume has a particular emphasis on the governance of institutional changes and national/regional implementation. Written from an agricultural economist's point of view and enriched by the contribution of political scientists and policy makers, this book offers: - an updated report of the European debate on agricultural and rural policies; -an in-depth analysis of the decoupling process of the agricultural financial support in Europe; - an analysis of the CAP implementation in the old and new Europe Member States ; - a discussion on the future scenarios for the European Agricultural Policies Based on a selection of papers from the 109th Seminar of the European Association of the Agricultural Economists (EAAE), this book, with a foreword by Franz Fischler, also includes four commissioned contributions from leaders in the field including Sofia Davidova, Roberto Esposti, Tassos Haniotis and Johan Swinnen.
The Pursuit of Sustainable Agriculture in EU Free Trade Agreements by
This book explores the extent to which EU Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) pursue sustainable agriculture in third country parties. It contends that this should be part of a duty for the EU enshrined in the Treaties to promote its fundamental values in its external action. It suggests that the extent to which this occurs in practice, may be reviewed judicially by the Court of Justice of the European Union. Against this background, selected agreements concluded by the EU with developed and developing countries (Canada, South Korea, Ukraine, Chile, SADC countries and Vietnam) are taken as case studies.The author concludes that, in spite of the remarkable progress made hitherto, EU trade policy is still far from being in line with the increasingly strong commitment of the EU to take the lead in the international arena for environmental and climate matters.This work adopts primarily a legal methodology, but it broaches the subject in interdisciplinary terms. It is addressed not only to (EU) policy-makers, but also to scholars of different fields and to the wider public interested in topics that have become of common concern for the future of our planet.With a foreword by Daniel Calleja Crespo, Director General of the European Commission - DG Environment
The Europeanization of National Administrations by
Drawing on comparative politics and social network analysis, this book examines how the domestic institutional and organizational settings, as well as the network governance patterns, determine variation in administrative responses to EU''s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in two European Union (EU) member states, Denmark and Greece. These two small member states represent the North and South dimensions of the EU. The north-south dimension in relation to administrative structures, respond differently to EU common policies―and to Common Agricultural Policy, specifically―which has not been studied in the Europeanization literature. Even though, the study of administrative responses to EU common policies is important as it has been especially noticeable during the current financial crisis. Europeanisation studies concentrate on either large Western European states (France, Germany and UK) or small Western Northern states. These studies produced detailed knowledge on specific countries and policy areas but they ignored the agricultural policy area and the importance of small Southern member states. By comparing a small Southern with a small Northern state since the accession to the EU, this book aims to fill this gap in the literature. Moreover, by linking the findings of the two cases to the member states that joined the EU in the 2004 fifth enlargement, and in other policy areas, it allows a better understanding of similar responses, either adaptation or inertia. "This book represents an important contribution to the theoretical and empirical literature on Europeanisation and the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). It systematically tackles an under studied question: does Europeanisation of policies lead to administrative change and convergence among the member states? The domestic administration of the EU CAP has remained domestically designed and monitored, resulting in divergence among the member states and gaps and imbalances in the performance of EU CAP decisions. The CAP is of more general interest because it combines regulatory and market intervention policy instruments. The analysis proceeds through in depth comparative historical case studies of Denmark and Greece which uses a sophisticated combination of quantitative and qualitative methodologies. The authoritative and informative analysis is structured by a focus on three key domestic factors. There is differentiated administration of common policies and while administration succeeds and adapts in one state, it does not necessarily do so in others, leading to differences in implementation performance. This book should provide a stimulus for further research." ―Wyn Grant, University of Warwick The last 40 years have been crucial for the European agriculture. The Common Agricultural Policy fulfilled its primary objective, which led Europeans to shift its objectives and cope with the shortcomings created by the success of the Policy itself―manage surpluses and narrow the gap between farmers, due to price mechanism―as well as, adapt the policy following the successive enlargements and follow the developments in the global economy, in which we live nowadays. Dr. Chatzopoulou gives us a very accurate image on how differently actors of the agricultural economy, farmers, cooperatives and the administrations both in Greece and Denmark, behave. But also, how different is the structure of the sector in these two countries: in Denmark, almost everything is based upon a consensus, where there does not exist a law on cooperatives, and where the administration and the sector work together to adapt or to influence the decisions to take at European level. On the other hand, in Greece, farmers struggle to make their voice heard in the absence of professional organizations, the cooperatives are bound to work in the framework of a specific and strict law and the administration was not shown very cooperative with the sector. These two realities are very well illustrated by the author and many lessons are to be learnt through this study. But, above all, the author gives us a fair idea of how complex is the process of Europeanisation in a Europe Union composed of sovereign member-States with different history, culture, social organization and different legal systems. ―Vaggelis Divaris, Former European Commission principal administrator (DG Agriculture and Rural Development)
The Common Agricultural Policy and Romanian Agriculture by
The current evolution of the European economy suggests that in the near future, research in agri-food economy and agri-food production, and agricultural production systems and structures must be redesigned, adapted and developed to respond to the lack of sustainability of agri-food production systems and the current global food crisis. This book analyses the agricultural paradigm transformations that occur as countries converge on the European agricultural model and what their impact is for sectoral development, while emphasizing their contribution to the redefinition of rural agricultural communities and economy. This book helps develop a theoretical framework by analysing the specialized empirical literature and techniques used in the field of agricultural economy research, with a focus on the transformation of Romanian agriculture in order to become integrated and respond to the globalization of markets. presents, analyses and discusses the main theories in field of agricultural economics and paradigms; creates a working paradigm for this concept within agricultural economics; provides a theoretical framework for the agricultural model. The book is aimed at students and researchers in agricultural economics, and government and policy makers internationally.
Law and Agroecology by
This book represents a first attempt to investigate the relations between Law and Agroecology. There is a need to adopt a transdisciplinary approach to multifunctional agriculture in order to integrate the agroecological paradigm in legal regulation. This does not require a super-law that hierarchically purports to incorporate and supplant the existing legal fields; rather, it calls for the creation of a trans-law that progressively works to coordinate interlegalities between different legal fields, respecting their autonomy but emphasizing their common historical roots in rus in the process. Rus, the rural phenomenon as a whole, reflects the plurality and interdependence of different complex systems based jointly on the land as a central point of reference. "Rural" is more than "agricultural": if agriculture is understood traditionally as an activity aimed at exploiting the land for the production of material goods for use, consumption and private exchange, rurality marks the reintegration of agriculture into a broader sphere, one that is not only economic, but also social and cultural; not only material, but also ideal, relational, historical, and symbolic; and not only private, but also public. In approaching rus, the natural and social sciences first became specialized, multiplied, and compartmentalized in a plurality of first-order disciplines; later, they began a process of integration into Agroecology as a second-order, multi-perspective and shared research platform. Today, Agroecology is a transdiscipline that integrates other fields of knowledge into the concept of agroecosystems viewed as socio-ecological systems. However, the law seems to still be stuck in the first stage. Following a reductionist approach, law has deconstructed and shattered the universe of rus into countless, disjointed legal elementary particles, multiplying the planes of analysis and, in particular, keeping Agricultural Law and Environmental Law two separate fields.
Climate change is slowly changing the agricultural sector in Europe. Sustainability has been at the center of various recent policies such as the farm to fork strategy (EC, 2020a), the EU biodiversity strategy for 2030 (EC, 2020b), the common agricultural policy (CAP) 2023-2027 (EC, 2021) and European climate law (EU, 2021).
Climate Change has negatively impacted agriculture and food security
The following graph shows what type of issues can arise to different agricultural lands due to climate change
The following graph shows the devaluation of farm land across Europe
Climate change threatens future of farming in Europe - A report from the European Environment Agency (EEA) that highlights the serious threat that climate change poses to the future of farming in Europe. The report warns that rising temperatures, changing rainfall patterns, and more frequent extreme weather events are already affecting crop yields and livestock production across the continent
Climate change adaptation in the agriculture sector in Europe - A report published by the European Environment Agency (EEA) on the challenges and opportunities of adapting European agriculture to the impacts of climate change. The report highlights the various ways in which climate change is already affecting agriculture in Europe, including changes in temperature and precipitation patterns, increased frequency of extreme weather events, and the spread of pests and diseases.
EU organizations join forces with farmers to fight climate change - This article provides an overview of the impacts of climate change on agriculture in the European Union, and the policies and measures being developed to address these impacts.
Droughts, fires and floods: How climate change will impact Europe - This article notes that while all European countries will be affected by climate change to some degree, those in the south and east are likely to face more severe and immediate impacts, such as droughts, heatwaves, and wildfires. It also highlights the disparities in economic and political power among EU member states, which could make it difficult to agree on ambitious climate targets and policies.
EU farming policy failing to fight climate change, auditors say - An audit report from the European Court of Auditors found that the EU's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), which provides financial support to farmers and rural development, is not sufficiently aligned with the EU's climate goals and lacks clear targets and indicators for reducing greenhouse gas emissions and promoting sustainable agriculture practices.
- Agricultural Policy, European Union
- Agriculture and State - Europe
- Common Agricultural Policy European Union Reform
- Sustainable Agriculture in Europe
