Conference in Bonn / Germany from 16th – 20th of June 2007

On behalf of the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU), the European Nature Heritage Fund (EuroNatur) had organised a conference entitled „Nature Conservation and the EU policy for sustainable land management in the new EU Member States“ which took place from the 16th to the 20th of June, 2007 in Bonn, Germany. A total of 60 experts from environmental and agricultural ministries, NGOs and the scientific body from all the new and some of the old EU Member States  discusses and exchanged current achievements in European agricultural policy, particularly in rural development from an environmental point of view and opportunities arising from the new EU Regulation for rural development and nature conservation.

After reforming the First Pillar of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) in 2003, the EU-Commission together with its Member States put into force the new Regulation on Rural Development which will be in force in the 2007-2013 period. As early as 2008/2009 the EU Budget and particularly the agricultural policy was subject to review.

The aim of the conference was therefore firstly to outline and discuss the supports available under the new European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) in a sustained exchange of experiences, and secondly to jointly draw up demands from the point of view of conservation policy for the so called „Health Check“ in 2008 / 2009, a planned CAP revision by the European Council and Commission. At the conference we took stock of ecologically compatible agriculture in the EU 27, analysed the implementation of rural development policy in the new Member States, and gained an overview of the current state of the discussion on effects of the budget for rural development measures in the 2007-2013 financial period.

Over the past few years the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation (BfN) and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) have been accompaniying the eastward enlargement process of the EU from the point of view of nature conservation and environmental protection.

At conferences held in 2001 in Bonn, 2003 in Potsdam (both organized by Ecologic) and again 2005 in Bonn (organized by EuroNatur), experts representing administrations, the scientific community, and conservation and environmental initiatives have exchanged their experiences for ecologically compatible development. In this context, colleagues from various EU Member States also provided very valuable suggestions and indications. Therefore, there has been a general expression of interest in continuing and expanding this process of information exchange and analysis beyond the time of accession. The conference in 2007 on „Nature Conservation and the EU policy for sustainable land management in the new EU Member States“ was to contribute to this process.