The James Hutton Institute
Hutton
The James Hutton Institute, and its predecessor research organisations, has been at the forefront of rural, agricultural and environmental science for 90 years, delivering products and expertise to benefit society.
ID: 402997621831-76
Lobbying Activity
Response to Evaluation of the impact of the CAP on water
26 Nov 2018
We believe the concepts underpinning the H2020 project ‘Moving Towards Adaptive Governance in Complexity: Informing Nexus Security’ (MAGIC ) may useful to this important initiative; and wish to support the process as deemed appropriate.
MAGIC is assessing how European policies can be better integrated to address the global challenges of delivering water, energy and food security (the WEF nexus). A transdisciplinary methodology is used to develop a shared understanding of the narratives which are shaping the debates on nexus policies. The robustness of these narratives as a basis for policy making is being explored using an interdisciplinary assessment of sustainability (organised using a societal-metabolism metaphor). These assessments are: (i) of the compatibility of the socio-economic system with the biosphere (feasibility); (ii) how the demand and supply are balanced inside the socio-economic system (the viability of technical, economic and institutional arrangements); (iii) the acceptability across society of outcomes (desirability). The assessments also highlight the degree of openness of systems (i.e. the degree to which they depend for resources on other external systems).
The nexus between water and agriculture is one of the longest policy debates within the European Commission. Our analyses have highlighted that many participants in the Directorates General (DG) recognise the need for enhanced policy cohesion between CAP and Water policy (mainly the Water Framework Directive). DG staff noted that, to date, the processes for improving policy cohesion have not yet overridden the ‘silos’ within and between individual DGs. Research participants simultaneously cited the need for better data and methodologies for looking at interconnections in the WEF nexus (between land, water and energy), whilst feeling constrained in the degree to which they can act in an integrated manner. The importance of such integrated working will be enhanced by the proposals for the CAP post-2020 including the shift towards results and performance. Yet there remains an apparently weak relationship between the promotion of land management practices that enhance the protection of water resources and water quality and the way in which CAP payments are made (i.e. the mechanisms and distributions of area-based Direct Payments to land managers).
The quantitative framework used in MAGIC, MuSIASEM , is capable of accounting for interconnections between water and food production at multiple scales (from local to country level), and in relation to different socio-economic and environmental constraints. In the past year, we accounted for water, food and energy uses in eight member-states, assessing related environmental pressures and the level of dependency on virtual imports . We observed a significant diversity of patterns in the supply of food and water demand and supply across countries that will pose challenges to the current implementation of policies. Currently, we are completing analysis of the implementation of CAP for all EU countries. We are also analysing a narrative that highlights tensions in the CAP between the promotion of competitiveness and the delivery of public goods .
We can:
1. contribute to the evaluation of the impact of CAP instruments on water quantity and quality;
2. show how existing Eurostat and Farm Accounts Data Network (FADN) datasets could be used to deliver this integrated assessment, and
3. provide useful insights to institutional barriers to policy integration within the EC.
We are planning the next phase looking at interactions between policies (e.g. the CAP and Water Framework Directive), and how these can be better integrated with the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development and the Paris Accord. For further information please contact: Keith.Matthews@hutton.ac.uk; or Mario.Giampietro@uab.cat (Project Coordinator).
Read full responseResponse to Commission Implementing Regulation laying down rules on plant passports
20 Oct 2017
I agree with the need to have a uniform system in place for issuing Plant Passports across the EU however I feel the proposed versions in Article 1 Part A are too restrictive. Each consignor should have the ability to add further information pertinent to the material they are sending such as, delivery date, address of consignee, more detailed information on the material to be sent and information on the grade of material if entering the EU Certification Scheme. In doing so this will negate the need for the consignor to produce two documents, a Plant Passport and delivery note. Having all the information in the one document will reduce the workload involved, the amount of paperwork produced and most importantly it will enhance the traceability as all the relevant information will contained in the one place. A label will not be practical to hold this information but an A4 sheet of paper would suffice, printed in black ink.
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