CONFERENCE PROGRAMME 17 October 2019

Conference Centre Albert Borschette Room AB-0D (ground floor)

Rue Froissart 36 1040 Brussels

Please print this programme and show it with your passport/ID card at the reception desk

as you enter the building

This conference, sponsored by the European Commission, will:

• Showcase the findings of the experimental RBPS on-farm pilot projects that have been running since 2014-15 in eight areas of Ireland, Spain, Romania and the UK

• Demonstrate evidence of biodiversity and policy impacts, illustrate what worked and why, and hear about the experiences of the farmers and project staff involved in the pilots

• Initiate a discussion with participants about how Member States could implement results-based payment schemes (RBPS) in the post-2020 CAP strategic plans

Background to the RBPS pilots

The importance of biodiversity for both its intrinsic value and value to the humankind is widely recognized. In 2011 the European Commission adopted the EU Biodiversity Strategy to 2020 with a headline target of halting the loss of biodiversity and the degradation of ecosystem services in the EU by 2020, and restoring them in so far as feasible, while stepping up the EU contribution to averting global biodiversity loss. Mainstreaming biodiversity into agriculture plays an essential role in the achievement of this target.

The mid-term review of the strategy (2015) showed that biodiversity in agricultural area has continued to decline and that greater efforts are needed to ensure its conservation. The EU Common Agricultural Policy has a key role to play therein, in particular through the agri-environment measures. These voluntary payment schemes are designed to encourage farmers to go beyond mandatory requirements and first pillar's good farming practices in terms of protection and enhancement of the environment on their farmland. They tend to reward activities carried out by farmers, which are expected to deliver additional environmental benefits. An alternative is suggested which would reward farmers based on the achieved results (results-based approach), rather than on the activities (management-based approach). With a compensation more targeted to the results, the result-based agri-environment payment schemes (RBAPS) have potential to enhance the effectiveness of the measures, and may also reduce complexity of the implementation and control, as well as to better utilise skills and knowledge of farmers.

With the financial support from the European Parliament, the European Commission launched three pilot on-farm projects (Romania, Ireland/Navarra and England) on results-based payment schemes for the enhancement of biodiversity over the course of 2014 and 2015. The aim is to provide better understanding of the key aspects of such schemes (design, implementation, controlling and verifying results and cost-effectiveness) and investigate their potential to deliver on biodiversity as well as opportunities for wider application.

The reports of the Ireland, Navarra and England pilot projects can be downloaded here: https://ec.europa.eu/environment/nature/rbaps

The conference will be streamed live, please share this link with others: https://webcast.ec.europa.eu/farming-for-biodiversity-building-on-know-how-from-the-results-based-pilots

On the day, share your views, experiences and suggestions on Twitter and help us to extend the discussions outside of the conference hall! #Farm4biodiversity

Farming For Biodiversity - building on know-how from the results-based pilots

Conference Chair Brendan Dunford, Burren Programme

8:30

REGISTRATION

Please plan your arrival between 8.00 and 8.30, to allow time for security checks

9:00 Welcome Pierre Bascou, Director, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European

Commission Michal Wiezik, Member of the European Parliament

9:30 What are results-based payments (RBPS)? Clunie Keenleyside, Institute for European Environmental Policy

9.40

Achievements of the four pilot RBPS projects Ireland Navarra Romania England

Caitriona Maher, European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism María Asunción Berastegi Gartziandia, GAN-NIK, Navarra Laura Sutcliffe, IFAB Mannheim Clare Bains, Natural England

Q&A

10.50 BREAK

11.20 Opportunities and challenges – experience of the pilot teams

Panel discussion

Ireland Navarra Romania England

James Moran, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology María Asunción Berastegi Gartziandia, GAN-NIK, Navarra László Demeter, Romanian National Agency for Protected Areas and Pogányhavas - nature conservation branch Clare Bains, Natural England

12.30 LUNCH (served on the 2nd floor)

13:30

From the farmers’ perspective – taking part in the pilots Caroline Harrison (England) Tommy McPartlan (Ireland) Nick Anema (England) Romulus Harbada (Romania) Michael Davoren (Ireland)

Panel discussion (speakers joined by Dolores Byrne, Institute of Technology, Sligo)

15:00 BREAK

15:30

RBPS beyond these pilot projects Update on current implementation

Wolfgang Suske, Suske Consulting and Knut per Hasund, Swedish Board of Agriculture

Discussion with the audience on the future steps to scale up RBPS, facilitated by the panel:

Claudia Olazabal, Head of Unit, Land Use & Management, DG Environment, European Commission Olivier Diana, Policy Officer, DG Agriculture and Rural Development, European Commission James Moran, Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology

17:00 Summing up and next steps Conference highlights by the Chair

Brendan Dunford, Burren Programme Closing remarks by the European Commission

Humberto Delgado Rosa, Director, DG Environment

17.30 CONFERENCE CLOSE

This conference has been organized on behalf of the European Commission by the Institute for European Environmental Policy.

The proceedings will be in English, with simultaneous translation in Romanian.

A buffet lunch will be provided, with refreshments available at registration and during the breaks.