The Potential of SEA in Fostering European Agriculture Policy and Strategies—Challenges and Opportunities

Carlo Rega, Maria do Rosario Partidario, Rute Martins and Giorgio Baldizzone
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Carlo Rega: European Commission Joint Research Centre, Via E. Fermi 2749, 21027 Ispra, Italy
Maria do Rosario Partidario: Centre for Innovation in Territory, Urbanism and Architecture (CiTUA), Tecnico—Universidade de Lisboa, 1000-042 Lisboa, Portugal
Rute Martins: Centre for Innovation in Territory, Urbanism and Architecture (CiTUA), Tecnico—Universidade de Lisboa, 1000-042 Lisboa, Portugal
Giorgio Baldizzone: GB Studio Consultancy, Via della Colla 3, 17051 Andora, Italy

Land, 2022, vol. 11, issue 2, 1-17

Abstract: Agriculture presents one of the central global pressures on biodiversity and climate. In the EU, the Green Deal, the Farm to Fork, and the Biodiversity Strategy 2030 set ambitious environmental targets, acknowledging the key role of agriculture for their achievement. It is, therefore, crucial to integrate such targets in the European Commission’s Common Agricultural Policy (CAP). The CAP 2023–2027 will be implemented through the national CAP Strategic Plans, subject to Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA). This presents an unprecedented opportunity to steer agriculture towards sustainability. This paper aims to elaborate the role of SEA in CAP Strategic Plans by identifying the links between the strategies mentioned above and SEA, learnings from previous SEA experience in Rural development programs, and collecting experts and stakeholders’ views on the topic. We maintain that SEA of CAP Plans should adopt a strategic approach rather than an impact-based one. Relying on the Critical Decision Factors, we exemplify how this approach can be applied to the key objective of reducing mineral fertilizers and chemical pesticides. We show how SEA could be pivotal in this regard and identify three enabling Critical Decision Factors: knowledge transfer, governance, and the need to bring industries into the forum.

Keywords: common agricultural policy; strategic environmental assessment; cap strategic plans; green deal; farm to fork strategy; critical decision factors (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: Q15 Q2 Q24 Q28 Q5 R14 R52 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
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