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Agri-environmental indicators in relation to

rural development policy in Flanders, Belgium

Dirk VAN GIJSEGHEM, Department of Agriculture and

Fisheries, Brussels, Belgium

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Agri-environmental situation in Flanders HNVF indicator Indicator for farmbirds

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Agri-environmental situation Soil use in Flanders

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Agri-environmental situation - Agricultural situation:

- Pig production and horticulture - Environmental problems:

- acidifying and eutrophying emissions - decline in biodiversity

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HNV farmland High Nature Value farmland are those areas in Europe where agriculture is the major (usually the dominant) land use and where agriculture supports or is associated with either a high species and habitat diversity, or the presence of species of European, and/or national, and/or regional conservation concern, or both ” (Andersen, 2003)

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HNVF type 1 Farmland with a high proportion of semi-natural vegetation

1.350 ha European habitat is in agricultural use

6210 6230 6410 6510

4030

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HNVF type 2 Land use mozaic

1. agricultural land associated with farmland features: 27.575 ha of the landscape elements

2. area of grassland of farms with extensive (< 2 LSU per ha for Flanders) livestock raising: 18.455 ha.

3. historical pastures of very good biological quality: 8.250 ha

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HNVF type 2

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HNVF type 3 1. Habitat for species: farmbirds

43.400 ha

© Rudi Debruyne

© Rudi Debruyne

© Rudi Debruyne

© Rudi Debruyne

© Rudi Debruyne

© Rudi Debruyne

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HNVF type 3 2. Farmland where there is at least 70%

chance of a full field bird community. 21.386 ha

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HNVF type 3 3. Breeding and patch areas of international

importance in agricultural use 23.426 ha farmland is a patch area of international

importance 20.070 ha is a breeding area of international importance.

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HNVF analysis Basket of indicators Use of policy and scientific evidence Future work

elaborate case studies to assess the robustness investigate the effectiveness of the agri-environmental measures

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Impact indicator for farmland birds

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Impact indicator for farmland birds

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Impact indicator for farmland birds Work in progress

The impact variable: farmland birds “Common breeding birds in Flanders”. Monitoring network developed in 2007 to follow up the evolution and the spreading of 101 common breeding birds in Flanders. 1200 sample areas of 1 km², whereof 500 are under agricultural land use, distributed randomly in Flanders.

The variable: rural policy

a method is developed that catches the volume or the input of all measures from the program in one geographic variable (area, farm, etc). A weighted sum where weighing is done according the expected impact of the measure on biodiversity

The impact indicator: Effect of rural policy on farmland birds in agricultural area

A data set of 500 coupled values for ‘rural policy’ and ‘biodiversity’ The dataset of coupled values for ‘rural policy’ and ‘biodiversity’ forms a good base to develop impact indicators.