Commission staff working document



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Priority Areas

PA Agri – Reinforcing sustainability of agriculture, forestry and fisheries

Coordinated by: Finland, Lithuania, Sweden

Agriculture, forestry, and fisheries are important to the economy and sustainable development of the Baltic Sea region. Keeping these sectors profitable and competitive is a key factor in securing the future sustainable development of the region. Many advantages could be gained from increased cooperation.


More coordination and awareness of best practice could help in addressing the environmental and competitiveness challenges in the Baltic Sea region, in particular best practices of cross-sectoral and integrated approaches to rural development. This would also contribute to economic development and help provide new opportunities, such as renewable energy production, combating climate change and eutrophication as well as enhancing of biodiversity. There is a need for continued cooperation and the sharing of experiences and best practices between stakeholders at all levels.
It is important to enhance the competitiveness of agriculture and rural areas, improve quality of life and encourage diversification. Agriculture and rural areas also provide ecosystem services for society as a whole and their ability to do this should be secured. This includes encouraging closer cooperation between the different actors in the public, non-governmental and private sectors. Actions to enhance and promoting the development of sustainable agricultural practices in the region should be closely linked to other EUSBSR priority areas. For example, priority area ‘Nutri’ is important for priority area ‘Agri’, as is the HELCOM Agriculture and Environment Forum. Areas of cooperation with priority areas ‘Nutri’ and ‘Bio’ could include meeting the challenges of eutrophication, climate change and biodiversity.
The Baltic Sea region is to a large extent a forest-dominated region. The forestry sector is important for regional development and plays an important role in maintaining sustainable employment in rural areas. The Baltic Sea region is a leading forestry centre in the EU. The growing importance of different forest ecosystem services is leading to greater demands on the forestry sector, reinforced by recent EU policies and instruments, including the 20-20-20 targets for renewable energy, water directive, NATURA2000 network. There is a need for more research and cooperation on a more integrated approach to utilising wood and other forestry related products and to enhance the competitiveness of forestry sector.
Fisheries have a long tradition in the Baltic Sea. The area can therefore serve as a model for the development of alternative management set-ups and instruments in support of the Common Fisheries Policy (CFP) reform process such as a more regionalised management approach. The Baltic Sea has a low number of commercially exploited stocks and rather clean, single species fisheries of which about 90% are within the EU and with only one external partner. It is therefore a suitable candidate for an ecosystem-based management approach and can set a good example for specific actions to be taken, such as improved selectivity in fishing gear to contribute to the elimination of discards.
Aquaculture has been slow to develop in the Baltic Sea region. This has not been due to a poor market situation or unfavourable natural conditions, but rather the difficulty of reconciling environmental policies with a viable aquaculture economy. As a result, the economic performance of the aquaculture industry has weakened. Furthermore, because of the eutrophication of the Baltic Sea, any aquaculture activity requires novel, cost-effective and environmentally efficient technologies to remain viable. There is a clear need for better and more coherent governance and management to facilitate the development of responsible and sustainable aquaculture in the Baltic Sea region.
In the context of the initiatives taken by the Standing Committee on Agricultural Research (SCAR), a working group has been created with the mandate to better coordinate national research work on developing sustainable agriculture, forestry and fisheries in the Baltic Sea region.
The rural areas in the north of the region are some of the most sparsely populated areas in the EU. At the same time other rural or coastal areas are relatively densely populated and some of these regions face pressure from urbanisation. Consequently, the needs of and challenges for these specific areas and their respective agriculture, forestry and fisheries sectors vary. Nevertheless, there are many common problems such as competitiveness, environmental challenges and the de-population of rural areas.
Many of the challenges for agriculture concern nutrients, biodiversity and climate change. There is a need to use resources in a more sustainable way, which means recycling nutrients more and using renewable energy. It is also important to improve agricultural practices for the protection of biodiversity and eco-system services, for example by restoring wetlands. The problem of excess manure produced through intensive animal husbandry needs to be solved. In recent years, cooperation projects on agri-environmental measures have been developed in the Baltic Sea region, with a capacity-building and investment potential to contribute substantially to nutrient reduction.
Within the forestry sector, the countries in the region differ in terms of ownership structures and property right regimes. As a result, there is a need for an appropriate mix of policy instruments to effectively tackle pending challenges, such as conflicting demands on different ecosystem services, fragmentation of forest estates and ensuing lack of cooperation between landowners, and a lack of knowledge of how to adapt forest management to tackle climate change and promote biodiversity. There are already cross-border projects where stakeholders at all levels exchange best practices on sustainable forest management, also incorporating the latest research findings. These projects, as well as new initiatives, will contribute to improving the profitability of sustainable forest management in the Baltic Sea region, with a particular focus on North-West Russia.
In July 2011, the Commission presented its proposals for the reform of the EU common fisheries policy. Europe’s fisheries policy is in urgent need of reform. Vessels are catching more fish than can be safely reproduced, thus exhausting individual fish stocks and threatening the marine ecosystem. The fishing industry is experiencing smaller catches and facing an uncertain future. By bringing fish stocks back to sustainable levels, the new Common Fisheries Policy aims to provide EU citizens with a stable, secure and healthy food supply for the long term. It seeks to bring new prosperity to the fishing sector, end dependence on subsidies and create new opportunities for jobs and growth in coastal areas. At the same time, it fosters the industry’s accountability for good stewardship of the seas.
Contrary to global trends, aquaculture production in the EU territory of the Baltic Sea catchment area stagnated or even slightly declined during the last decade. A constantly increasing shortfall in global seafood supply has created great demand for aquaculture to fill the gap between declining fisheries output and increasing demand for seafood. However, this opportunity has not been seized in the Baltic Sea region.

Targets and indicators

A comprehensive system for the design, the monitoring and the follow-up of indicators and targets will be set up in 2013, under the responsibility of the priority area coordinators. The still missing targets and deadline, baseline, and statistics/information sources related to the below indicators will be defined.


Sub-objectives

Indicator

Baseline

Target/deadline

Data sources

Improved manure utilisation and efficiency

Investments on bioenergy plants utilizing manure of farm animals and recycling nutrients.

TBC

Minimum of 5 new or upgraded biogas plants operational in the Baltic Sea region in 2020.

Data bases of e.g. structural fund and rural development programmes of the 8 Member States.

Added value through cooperation within Baltic fisheries and aquaculture

State of Baltic Sea fish stocks and level of aquaculture production. Activities of BALTFISH are result oriented and effective.

ICES reports on Baltic Sea fish stocks in 2011 and statistics on aquaculture production in 2011.

Baltic Sea fish stocks at MSY level from 2015 onwards and increase in aquaculture production and aquaculture sustainability compared to level in 2011. GES is reached by 2020.

ICES annual advice on the state of Baltic Sea fish stocks. Multiple sources for data on level of aquaculture production. Reporting on activities of BALTFISH, MSFD, CFP.

Synergies from cooperation between the Rural Development Programmes

Cooperation and social dialogue between Baltic Sea region member states’ institutions and broader number of public, social, non-governmental partners.

There is no tradition to systematically organise regional meetings and initiatives which unify different actors participating in Rural Development Programmes.

Organisation of joint meetings (at least one per year) in order to deepen the cooperation in rural development programmes. Deadline: end of 2020; Progress review by the end of 2014.

Reporting on activities of the action ‘Enhance the combined effects of the rural development programmes’;

Reporting without additional indicators, that means whether on the basis of a few existing EAFRD-indicators or a qualitative description.








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