EN Official Journal of the European Union CE 70/94

(2004/C 70 E/098)

WRITTEN QUESTION E-2396/03

by María Sornosa Martínez (PSE) to the Commission

(21 July 2003)

Subject: Measures to combat desertification in the EU

During the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought organised by the United Nations in June 2003, data was made public on the effects of desertification in Mediterranean Europe. This deterioration of land is far from slowing down, and already affects over 300 000 square kilometres of coastline. In the specific case of Spain, the risk of desertification has been evaluated at 31 %, entailing a cost of EUR 200 million.

It its answer to written question E-1287/00 (1), the Commission emphasised its intention to devote attention to this serious environmental problem and granted Member States the possibility of applying for Community aid to combat desertification in the context, inter alia, of the policy supporting sustainable rural development and of the Cohesion Funds.

Has the Commission received from Spain, since 2000, any application for aid for specific programmes to combat desertification? If so, could the Commission give a breakdown of the projects that have received aid and the amounts granted?

Since Spain is one of the countries covered by Annex IV of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification, has it notified the Commission of the preparation of any national or regional action programmes to combat desertification?

Does the Commission have any plans, in the medium term, for a specific initiative to combat desertification at Community level?

Answer given by Mrs Wallström on behalf of the Commission

(19 September 2003)

1. (a) Regarding the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), most of the Operational Programmes of the regions affected by serious erosion problems (Comunidad Valenciana, Andalusia, Murcia) have specific measures within their environmental priorities specifically directed towards the fight against soil erosion. These measures include interventions dealing with the restoration of degraded land through the planting of new vegetable cover, the conservation and improvement of forested areas and the correction of torrential riverbeds. Currently there are no specific anti-erosion projects within the Cohesion Fund. (b) The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) provides support for a large range of agri-environmental commitments that, by applying more than the usual good farming practices, offer opportunities for building up soil organic matter, reduce erosion and prevent soil salinisation. Support is also provided for measures aiming at sustainable forest management and development of forestry, the maintenance and improvement of forest resources and the extension of woodland areas. Though Spain's 2000-2006 rural development programme includes no action designed specifically to tackle desertification, the Commission has approved a series of measures which may help towards that end. These include water resource management measures designed to rationalise and economise the use of irrigation water by modernising and improving the existing infrastructure and forestry measures to tackle erosion by improving and/or reconstituting plant cover on the ground. Improvement of water resources is included in Spain's two horizontal programmes to improve production structures, and the overall Community contribution from the European Agriculture Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) intended for management of water resources is EUR 1 000 million. As for the forestry measures (mainly afforestation of agricultural land, improvement of forestland and prevention of forest fires) included in the national and regional programming, the Community contribution from EAGGF totals around EUR 1 500 million for Spain as a whole. Although overall management of the structural fund and rural development programmes is shared between the Member State and the Commission, it needs to be underlined that the actual selection, implementation and execution of projects fall almost entirely within the competence of the national and regional authorities. (c) The Commission's Directorate-General for Research has co-financed several European research projects concerning desertification in the Mediterranean. In fact, a new call for proposals has just been launched under the Environment Programme, with a deadline of 9 October 2003. This call addresses issues of (i) Assessment of Vulnerability to Desertification and Early Warning, and (ii) Combating desertification, with a view to providing input to Annex IV to the Convention on Combating Desertification.

2. Within the framework of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UN-CCD), Spain is currently in the last phase of finalising its National Action Programme (NAP) (2), which is the main instrument for implementing the provisions of the Convention. Furthermore, Spain is included in the regional Annex to the UN-CDD covering the Northern Mediterranean. A Sub-regional Action Programme (SRAP) is currently not available. An overview of projects of relevance to the Annex IV Group countries, as submitted at the UNCCD/CRIC-1 Meeting of November 2002, can be found on the UNCCD internet site (3).

3. In the medium term, the following Community activities are expected to further strengthen the fight against desertification significantly: (a) On 16 April 2002 the Commission adopted a communication entitled ‘Towards a thematic strategy for soil protection’ (4). This communication addresses desertification in the context of soil degradation processes such as erosion and depletion of organic matter. The communication acknowledges that the Mediterranean region is severely affected by erosion. The impact on the environment, water reservoirs and agricultural land represents a major threat for these regions. The communication represents a first step towards the development of a Soil Thematic Strategy as requested by the 6th Environmental Action Programme. The Commission is presently in the process of further developing this Soil Thematic Strategy (5). Detailed policy options in response to soil degradation due to erosion, organic matter depletion, soil contamination and soil monitoring will be presented in the forthcoming soil proposals for 2004; (b) The 2003 Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform involves further measures contributing to soil protection. A new modulation system is established and the funds made available by it will increase the budget for rural development measures, including agri-environmental and afforestation schemes. There will also be an increase in the maximum Community co-financing rate for agri-environmental measures, which becomes 85 % in Objective 1 areas and 60 % in other areas. Moreover, a single decoupled farm income payment comes to replace most of the direct payments under several Common Market Organisations and is expected to reduce incentives for intensive production. Farmers receiving direct payments will be subject to a system of compulsory ‘cross-compliance’. This includes the obligation to maintain all agricultural land in good agricultural and environmental condition, which entails compliance with standards relating to soil protection, maintenance of soil organic matter and soil structure, to be defined by Member States. Where a farmer fails to comply with these standards, a reduction in payments will be applied as a penalty.

(1) OJ C 113 E, 18.4.2001, p. 7.

(2) http://www.unccd.int/actionprogrammes/northmed/northmed.php

(3) http://www.unccd.int/cop/reports/northmed/regional/2002/group_of_annex_iv_countries-eng.pdf

(4) COM(2002) 179 final.

(5) http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/soil/index.htm