Farmland supports many habitats and species of European conservation concern. In 2003, Europe's environment ministers agreed to identify all farmland areas with high nature value and take conservation measures. This report shows that these areas cover roughly 15-25 % of the European countryside...

Agriculture is a key influence on the environment in the acceding countries. This report reviews the pressures from agriculture on water, soil and air. It also shows the importance of agricultural management for biodiversity and landscapes. Introduction of the CAP will bring positive and...

Work on reviewing the availability of forward-looking indicators started in 2005, with the aim of enhancing their use in European environmental assessments. This work has resulted in an overview of the availability of forward-looking information (scenarios and indicators) across all themes and...

The EU has highlighted the importance of using the Common Agriculture Policy (CAP) to prevent the abandonment of high nature value farmland and its intensification as a key action to halt biodiversity decline. The present report sets out to assess whether the current distribution of CAP funds is...

This assessment of global megatrends focuses on the impact of global pressures on Europe. A global-to-European perspective is relevant for European environmental policy making because Europe’s environmental challenges and management options are being reshaped by global drivers such as...

Environmental indicators are essential tools for assessing environmental trends, tracking progress against objectives and targets, evaluating the effectiveness of policies and communicating complex phenomena to non-technical audiences. The last guide to European Environment Agency (EEA)...

Human health and well‑being are intimately linked to environmental quality. This has been recognised for decades amongst policymakers in Europe, and most recently appears as a cornerstone in the European Commission's proposal for the 7th Environment Action Programme. This report, produced...

Europe's agricultural landscapes provide highly varied living conditions for many plants and animals. In the early nineties the general characteristics of low-input farming systems were described in terms of biodiversity and management practices and introduced the term high nature value...