1.        Sustainable management of Europe’s natural resources

Policy context

The Agenda 2000 reform of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) identifies specific challenges that research can contribute to address: improve food safety and reinforce consumer confidence; further develop the multifunctional model of agriculture in Europe, first of all by quantifying externalities surrounding agricultural production with respect to issues such as environmental protection, rural development, nature conservation and socio‑cultural interactions; lay down the scientific foundation of a coherent and sustainable framework for integrated rural development; provide scientific evidence and justification to further develop EU positions in international fora such as WTO, OECD and FAO.

Research activities under Priority 5 'Food Quality and Safety' and Priority 6 'Sustainable development, global change and ecosystems' will also contribute to the fulfillment of the objectives of Agenda 2000.

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Sustainable development of rural areas: characterisation of rural entities, and related drivers of change for assessment of rural development and to provide tools to support environmental impact assessment

Agenda 2000 implies a considerable overhauling, streamlining and consolidation of rural development policy, becoming the second pillar of the CAP. Moreover it explicitly established economic, social, and environmental objectives (explicitly required in the Treaty of Amsterdam) as the three elements of Sustainable Agriculture and Rural Development.

Research activities will contribute to assess sustainable agriculture and rural development, strike the right balance between the economic, social and environmental dimensions, and focus on characterisation of meaningful spatial entities, landscapes and drivers of change.

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-                        (Task 12) Ex-ante policy assessment of CAP: to develop tools and methodologies in order to evaluate ex-ante intervention measures covering all EU Member States (baseline description, forecasting, monitoring and evaluation of projects, measures, programmes, and policies), including those related to the improvement of agricultural structure. Research will identify, at the regional level, the effects of EU policies, and in particular the CAP, on income, employment, production structure, production intensity, and land use. A second specific objective would be to integrate tools for environment and landscape assessment or, where appropriate, elaborate the interface between such tools.

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