Consequences of EU expansion for farmland birds in eastern Europe

Abstract

For some time conservationists have been warning of potentially grave environmental consequences of European Union (EU) expansion in the absence of reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). Now, Donald et al. 1xAgricultural intensification and the collapse of Europe's farmland bird populations. Donald, P.F et al. Proc. R. Soc. London B. Biol. Sci. 2001; 268: 25–29Crossref | Scopus (843)See all References1 provide alarming evidence that, for farmland birds at least, such fears are well founded. Their study relates changes in bird populations, in EU and nonEU eastern European countries, to measures of agricultural intensity, such as cereal and milk yield, and numbers of tractors or workers per farm. A principal component analysis results in countries separating into clear categories along an axis representing a gradient of agricultural intensity. Not surprisingly, many eastern and southern European countries, such as Spain, Greece, Croatia, Latvia and Romania, fall at the low-intensity end of the scale with generally low agricultural yields, few tractors and/or harvesters and many workers, whereas mainly western EU countries, such as The Netherlands, Germany and UK, cluster at the opposite, intensive end of the scale.More importantly, the bird populations in these different categories also exhibit distinct patterns of change. In general, populations in the low-intensity countries have exhibited the smallest declines, whereas those associated with the high-intensity countries have declined very rapidly in the past 25–30 years. In fact, cereal yield alone, a good measure of agricultural intensity, explained over 30% of the variation in bird population trends. The study is, of course, purely a correlative one and cannot provide evidence for a causative link between bird numbers and agricultural change. However, there is now overwhelming evidence that declines in farmland birds, in the UK in particular and elsewhere in the EU, have been caused by changes in agricultural practices.This work suggests that agricultural change is a major threat to biodiversity at a continental scale. If EU agricultural policy does not shift towards ‘greener’ farming, then accession to the EU will almost certainly be followed by increasingly rapid loss of biodiversity in many Central and Eastern European Countries (CEEC). The work draws from the FAOSTAT database of the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation and the Birdlife International/European Bird Census Council European Bird Database. It clearly demonstrates the scientific and political value of such long-term, extensive data sets at a time when securing funding to maintain them is extremely difficult.