Authors: Pe'er, Guy;

The EU’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) hasn’t succeeded in halting farmland biodiversity loss. The CAP post-2023 offers a new ‘Green Architecture’, including ‘Eco-schemes’, that can potentially address this weakness. Over 3,600 scientists called the EU to be more ambitious, and over 300 experts delivered recommendations on how the CAP could do better for biodiversity.
Key principles for success include: preserving and restoring (semi-)natural elements and extensive grasslands; improving spatial planning and landscape-scale implementation, e.g. via collective actions; implementing result-based approaches; and improving knowledge exchange. The reality, however, is that the war on Ukraine has revived the food security narrative, leading the EU to open fallow land to production, and shifting budgets to Pillar 1 to expand the use of agrochemicals. Overall lack of ambition is demonstrated also by the National Strategic Plans submitted to the Commission.
There is much work for the Commission and Member States to improve Eco-schemes’ design, as well as the CAP’s overall implementation. Transparency and greater involvement of scientists (and farmers!) is imperative, as is the need to identify and address sources of resistance to transformation.
We should also think beyond 2027: if Direct Payments cannot be phased out, other policy instruments should be sought.