Baltic Sea Regional Conference „Quo vadis, farmland biodiversity?“

Time: 14-15 November 2012

Location: Estonia, Tartu

The EU has introduced several measures to help stabilise and strengthen the existing agricultural biodiversity in Europe and reduce the potentially harmful impacts of farming. Europe’s agricultural policy makers acknowledge the need to design strategic approaches capable of promoting farm profitability whilst avoiding actions that damage natural resources. But relationships between farm practices and the diversity of natural resources are not always clear; they are complex, differ by region and are long in the making. Understanding the relations between biodiversity and sustainable agricultural production and translating such knowledge into supported management practices that can be applied at the scale of farms and landscapes is of key importance for an environmentally friendly agriculture in Europe whilst also in the Baltic Sea Region (BSR).

Purpose of the event: The conference will bring together a range of stakeholders with an active interest in the farmland biodiversity of the BSR in order to discuss a) the current situation with farmland biodiversity in the region and b) what can be done together to improve it? The conference aims especially to begin the process of developing a common position and practical policy recommendations for all Baltic Sea countries regarding appropriate biodiversity measures to be applied in the framework of CAP 2013+.

Target groups: Approximately 75 people in total working with CAP and RDP preparation, implementation, control and evaluation issues & experts/scientists of farmland biodiversity in the BSR.

Organisers:

The Estonian Agricultural Research Centre
The Estonian Ministry of Agriculture

The Conference is financed by the Technical Assistance measure of Estonian RDP 2007-2013 and is free of charge (coffee breaks, lunches). Participants are expected to cover their accommodation and travel costs.