Explanatory Memorandum to COM(2006)170 - Conclusion of the Protocol on Mountain Farming attached to the Alpine Convention - Main contents
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This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2006)170 - Conclusion of the Protocol on Mountain Farming attached to the Alpine Convention. |
|---|---|
| source | COM(2006)170  |
| date | 25-04-2006 |
THE CONVENTION ON THE PROTECTION OF THE ALPS, THE ALPINE CONVENTION, WAS SIGNED BY THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY AT SALZBURG ON 7 NOVEMBER 1991, AND BY COUNCIL DECISION 96/191/EC OF 26 FEBRUARY 1996 i the Community ratified the Convention, which finally entered into force on 4 April 1998. The other Contracting Parties are Austria, France, Germany, Italy, Liechtenstein, Monaco, Slovenia and Switzerland.
The reasons for the Council Decision are still valid. They are the following:
the conclusion of the Convention forms part of the involvement of the Community in the international activities on the protection of the environment recommended in the fifth Programme of Action (1992) by the European Communities on the Environment and
the protection of the Alps is a major challenge to all Member States owing to the cross-frontier nature of the economic, social and ecological problems of the Alpine area.
Pursuant to Article 2 i and i of the Alpine Convention, concrete measures to achieve these goals are laid down in different Protocols, such as the Protocol on Mountain Farming. By ratifying the Alpine Convention, the EC is committed to fulfil the obligations of this Convention.
The signature and ratification of the Protocol on Mountain Farming fit within the framework of the agricultural policy of the European Community, in particular with Articles 36 and 37 of the EC Treaty.
2. THE COMMUNITY AND THE PROTOCOL ON MOUNTAIN FARMING
The European Commission took part in the negotiation of the Mountain Farming Protocol, which is greatly influenced by Community policies and legislation. The Protocol has already been initialled by the EC at the Ministerial Conference of the Alpine Convention at Chambéry on 20 December 1994. The Commission’s involvement in regional conventions like the Alpine Convention has been limited in the last ten years; this explains the delay in proposing a ratification of the Protocol.
Under the overarching goal of sustainable development the aim of the Protocol on Mountain Farming, provided for in Article 1, is to ensure and promote appropriate and environmentally friendly agriculture in the Alpine region as an essential contribution to the maintenance of populated sites and sustainable economic activities. This includes producing typical high-quality produce, safeguarding the natural environment, protecting against natural risks and conserving the beauty and the value the landscape. Contracting Parties are required to optimise the multifunctional role of mountain farming.
Measures provided for in the Protocol on Mountain Farming, such as encouragement of mountain farming and improvement of living conditions, land use, nature-friendly farming, promotion and marketing and forestry measures, are in line with EU agricultural legislation and policy as well as with current developments.
Agenda 2000 established rural development policy as the 2nd pillar of the common agricultural policy and therefore Council Regulation (EC) No 1257/1999 of 17 May 1999 on support for rural development from the European Agricultural Guidance and Guarantee Fund (EAGGF) i became part of it. The Regulation contains specific provisions for support for less-favoured areas as well as agri-environmental measures which have developed into a key part of the 2nd pillar. These measures are, on the one hand, related to productive land management, such as actions in the areas of special biodiversity/nature interest, genetic diversity concerning local breeds indigenous to the area, preventing erosion and fire, the maintenance of farming systems characteristic of the traditional landscape, and on the other hand measures related to non-productive land management, such as maintenance of the countryside and landscape features.
The future rural-development policy from 2007 as defined by Council Regulation (EC) No 1698/2005 of 20 September 2005 on support for rural development by the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development (EAFRD) i and the Council Decision on Community strategic guidelines for Rural Development (Programming period 2007–2013) focuses on three key areas: the agrifood economy, the environment and the broader rural economy and population. The new generation of rural development strategies and programmes will be built around a competitiveness axis for agriculture, food and forestry, a land management-environment axis and a quality of life/diversification axis in rural areas and will respond to the economic, social and environmental challenges facing mountain regions.
Under the competitiveness axis a range of measures will target human and physical capital in the agriculture, food and forestry sectors (promoting knowledge transfer and innovation) and quality production. The land management-environmental axis provides for measures to protect and enhance natural resources, as well as preserving high-nature value farming and forestry systems and cultural landscapes of Europe’s rural areas.
In this way, and in line with the conclusions of the Lisbon and Göteborg European Councils, the future developments of the common agricultural policy will “contribute to achieving sustainable development by increasing its emphasis on encouraging healthy, high-quality products, environmentally sustainable production methods, including organic production, renewable raw materials and the protection of biodiversity”.
3. CONCLUSIONS
The Alpine region is characterised by its wealth of natural resources, including water resources, agricultural potential, historical and cultural heritage, value for quality of life and for economic and leisure activities not only for the local but also for other populations. However, the Alpine region is also characterised by difficult living and production conditions for farming activities due to geomorphological and climatic conditions.
The Alpine Convention together with its Protocol on Mountain Farming is an instrument which enables the European Community to maintain an environmentally friendly mountain agriculture adapted to this highly sensitive cross-border zone and indirectly to maintain a unique natural and cultural heritage and a production of quality food. It provides a single framework to formulate a cross-border approach which integrates common aims and actions to solve particular problems of the Alpine region. The European Community is committed to the objectives of the Convention and to the Protocol which has already been initialled. Its ratification would confirm the EC’s commitment, would be a strong political signal and would strengthen the ecological process in the whole region which is of high value for Europe. Therefore the European Community should conclude the Protocol on Mountain Farming. The Council is invited to approve the Protocol by adopting the attached proposal for a Decision.