Plans to reduce farm damage to environment are ‘rushed’

Date: 31/10/02

By David Cronin

THE scope for new EU states to introduce ambitious measures to prevent farming damaging the environment could be narrowed because of pressure to hastily devise management plans, a think-tank has warned.

The Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) argues that the EU is placing a considerable burden on the prospective entrants by demanding that they produce their first rural development plans within three years of joining the Union in 2004.

This constraint, say IEEP researchers David Baldock and Terenc Far, could hamper moves to introduce far-reaching nature protection measures 'because of the time required to establish and implement schemes of a contractual nature'.

In the study, the two men say farming in the new member states is unlikely to become as intensive as that in the current EU-15 due to 'lower land and labour prices, limited availability and different policy history'.

But they predict a substantial rise in pesticide and fertiliser use in the new member states.

The European Fertiliser Manufacturers Association, they note, has estimated there could be a 19 increase in the amount of nitrates applied in central and eastern Europe over the coming decade.

Yet if trends witnessed in eastern Germany after the country's reunification are mirrored, there could be a 59 growth in nitrates sales in that region, Baldock and Far claim.

Overall, any adverse impact from EU enlargement on the environment is likely to be more pronounced in existing member states than new ones, the IEEP suggests.

Competitive pressure could lead to a decrease in pork production in central and eastern Europe - possibly by one million tonnes between now and 2007.

Yet output of pig meat, says the IEEP, is on course for significant growth in the Union's present countries.

The largely intensive nature of pig rearing is blamed for much water and air pollution.

The IEEP reckons market trends after enlargement could result in pig farming causing bigger ecological harm in western Europe but less in the east and middle of the continent.

The scope for new EU states to introduce ambitious measures to prevent farming damaging the environment could be narrowed because of pressure to hastily devise management plans, the Institute for European Environmental Policy (IEEP) has warned.

http://www.ieep.eu/ http://www.ieep.eu/

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