OO. 4c.1 Take biodiversity more into account in "cross-compliance" criteria

During the mid-term interim review of the CAP in 2002, it was decided that the whole-farm payments made by the CAP would be backed up by a compulsory set of cross-compliance requirements, covering environmental, food safety, and animal health and welfare standards. Farmers should observe a minimum level of environmental standards and have to maintain agricultural land in good agricultural and environmental condition as a condition for the full granting of the CAP direct payments. The CAP imposes a basic framework of minimum cross-compliance criteria. As a Member State, Belgium only has limited freedom in defining its minimum requirements for good agricultural and environmental conditions.

Environmental cross-compliance criteria address the protection of wild species and the conservation of habitats through ecologically managed Natura 2000 areas, protection of soils when spreading sewage sludge, protection of groundwater and protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources. These cross-compliance criteria are based on articles emanating from specific European directives, such as the Habitat Directive 92/43/EEC and the Directive on the conservation of wild birds 79/405. The requirements for good agricultural and environmental condition include the protection of permanent pasture and measures to ensure a minimum level of maintenance and to avoid the deterioration of habitats.

This operational objective aims to better integrate biodiversity concerns in the cross-compliance criteria applied in Belgium and to harmonise them. This could be achieved by strengthening specific requirements imposed by cross-compliance, among other things by taking more elements from the existing environmental legislation (e.g. pertaining to the protection of river banks and road embankments) and imposing new regulations favourable to nature development (e.g. localisation in priority of set-asides, maintenance of reversing areas to protect natural elements).