Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 4 • Number 1 • 22nd January 2004
EU’s Cap Blamed for Decline in Bird-Diversity
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The UK’s Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) and Birdlife International have urged EU accession countries to put environment and wildlife at the heart of farming policy. A recently released report by the two organisations shows that the population of farmland birds has declined rapidly in European countries and in particular in areas of intensive agricultural production systems. The indicators of the report show that common farmland bird species have declined by 30 percent since 1980. The report also states that many of the bird species, which have already been lost in north-west Europe, are still found in the eastern European states scheduled to join the EU in May. Graham Wyne, Chief Executive of RSPB, noted that “for more than three decades the wildlife of the European Union has been ravaged by agricultural production subsidies encouraging intensive farming ahead of sustainability and the environment”, warning the new EU countries of massive declines or even extinctions of wildlife relying on farmed landscapes. Furthermore, commenting on the relationship between the Common Agricultural Policy and the decline of bird species he said “in fact, this has been so marked you can pick out the outline of the Common Agricultural Policy imprinted on the distribution map of the bird”.
“EU Urges Rapid Action to Save Endangered Species,” ENS, 19 January 2004; “Dire Warning for Europe’s Farmland Birds,” RSPB, 19 January 2004; “Farming “killing Europe’s Birds”,” BBC, 19 January 2004.
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