Analysis of the requirements for soil and biodiversity protection as well as for greenhouse gas mitigation within the rural development programmes

The purpose of this study is to contribute to a better understanding of the measures implemented in the context of the rural development policy with respect to the integration of environmental concerns into the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), in the areas of greenhouse gas mitigation as well as soil and biodiversity protection. The study has two objectives:

1 To identify measures with a potential impact on the three objectives; and
2 To analyse the level of implementation.

Six EU Member States are subject to the analysis: Austria, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy and the United Kingdom. The analysis is based on the following data sources:

- Information from the Rural Development Programmes (RDPs) for the planning period 2000 – 2006
- Rural Operational Programmes (Italy, Germany), DOCUP 1 and DOCUP 2 (France), as well as qualitative interviews with administrative staff in charge of the implementation of measures in the regions.

In total 63 RDPs have been assessed on regional (France, Germany, Italy and the United Kingdom) or national level (Austria and Ireland).