OO. 4c.4 Promote the integration of biodiversity into rural development

Agricultural and environmental policies must give farmers complementary signals if environmentally sound agricultural practices are to be applied to the necessary extent. A new policy for rural development was introduced in 1999 as the second pillar of the CAP. This second pillar of the CAP aims to accompany market and income policy ("first pillar") by providing direct financial aid to farmers in order to influence rural structures. In its revised version for the period 2007-2013, the Rural Development Policy includes important biodiversity-friendly measures, like agri-environmental measures, compensatory schemes in Natura 2000 sites, ecological forest-management aid, etc. They have to be scheduled by a national (regional) rural development plan and may be co-financed by the EU. These measures can be a useful financial instrument for farmers who face a drop in income as they comply with the set regulations.

Therefore, one priority of this Strategy is to integrate biodiversity aspects better and more clearly in current and future rural development plans.

In particular, the revision of rural development plans for the period 2007-2013 will be an occasion to streamline integration of biodiversity in these plans at Belgian level.

Furthermore, policies for nature conservation and rural development must take into account the commitments of the Kiev Resolution on biodiversity (2003) which foresees (i) the identification, using agreed common criteria, of all high nature value (HNV) areas in agricultural ecosystems in the pan-European region and (ii) their biodiversity-friendly management through appropriate measures (e.g. instruments of rural development). Designation of HNV and integration of ad hoc protection tools should be fully implemented in the Rural Development Plans.