Activists and some experts argue that policies that were supposed to oppose rural abandonment and benefit nature have been overturned.
For example, the EU provides subsidies to support “sectors that are at risk of abandonment or have no alternatives to grow”.
Incentives
Soon, people figured out how to maximize subsidy payments without trying to follow the spirit of the Brussels directive.
“Look, that’s an orchard. That can be paid for by the pollination program. As you can see, there isn’t a single flower there!” exclaimed the visibly distraught Prata, pointing out the car window.
“That could be a subsidy of up to 900 euros per hectare per year. Here,” he said, pointing to the other side of the road, “there are bushes with lots of flowers that don’t qualify for remuneration.”
Overall, the Portuguese Rural Development Program, which provides the CAP with a national interpretation, provides incentives worth 8 billion euros for the country’s farmers.
Purpose
To get close to them, farmers burn bushes to clear orchards or till them, releasing carbon emissions. Orchards bloom once a year, so there is not much benefit to pollinators such as bees.
“Although the CAP has also announced goals to restore Europe’s nature and landscapes, it does not fit the purpose,” Plata said.
Mariano Recio of the Biodiversity and Conservation Unit at the University of King Juan Carlos in Madrid agrees: “Most agricultural practices in the Iberian Peninsula depend on which crops are subsidized (or not subsidized) during each CAP funding period or not use.
This can lead to crops not even being harvested or overgrown to maximize the benefits from subsidies. “
traditional
Research published in 2020 by Recio and his colleague Emilio Virgos found that CAP and Rewilding programmes are divided across Europe, although “they can and should
Complementary, especially since they are both supported by the EU. “
Virgos and Recio in particular see conflict arising from the ambitions of rewilding groups not only to bring back large herbivores but also to increase the dwindling numbers of predators in these areas.
“The current CAP is subsidizing extensive livestock farming in many marginal and mid-mountain areas.
This strategy has resulted in an increase in livestock head numbers beyond what has historically existed in traditional practices in these areas,” Recio said.
Wolves
While these CAP incentives may increase economic profits and benefit rural people to stay, this “conflicts with the arrival of large predators such as wolves, brown bears or Eurasian lynx”, Virgo and Recio.
While wineries and orchards dominate agriculture around the Douro, in the south, CAP incentives have led to expanding grazing areas, with cattle often not even behind fences.
They are easy prey for speculative wolves, leading to a dramatic increase in attacks in the Coa Valley between 2012 and 2016.
Local farmers have complained that the government has not paid enough compensation for damages caused by the attack. They took matters into their own hands, and once again the steady pack of wolves disappeared from the valley.
fencing
In 2014, rancher Rui Matos suffered the first wolf attack on his farm, Quinta do Tabalião. It was worth 500 euros, but I had to wait more than a year for government compensation and ended up with about half of that,” Matos said, shaking his head.
As head of the local cattle association, it was clear he had to invest in better conservation.
“When Rewilding Portugal launched in 2019, I was one of the first ranchers they contacted to form a partnership,” recalls Matos. He said their ideas helped, citing his watchdog Hattie as an example.
Hati is one of 52 guard dogs that Rewilding Portugal has put together to work on farms in the valley. The dog programme, along with other measures such as advice and financial support for fencing, forms the core of Rewilding’s further efforts to reduce human-wolf conflict – “to help take effective measures to prevent attacks and promote abundant prey for wildlife”.
Fair
The Rewilding team, Matos and other farmers in the region agreed on one important aspect that politics needed to keep up and not let the people of the region fend for themselves.
When asked if he would be happy with wolves near the ranch, Matos replied: “If there is fair and quick compensation for attacks, yes. But as things stand, farmers here will encounter problem because they have to bear all the losses and expenses associated with it.”
Still, Matos is confident that “if we manage to balance wild prey and predators, coexistence will not be a problem.”
this author
Roman Goergen is a freelance journalist based in London.This article was first published in Renaissance and Ecologists A magazine dedicated to coffee culture.you can buy this issue here.
