The territorial dimension of the Common Agricultural and Rural Development policy (CAP) and its relation to cohesion objectives

An increasing focus on rural development issues has characterised the discussion of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform. This reflects new societal demands for tasks and services provided by agriculture particularly in mountain and less-favoured areas (LFA). The regional distribution of CAP and Rural Development support underpins the argument that the territorial dimension implied by CAP reforms has not yet been taken sufficiently into account. The regional variation in the distribution of the LFA scheme between member states testifies this imbalance and underscores country specific priorities. LFAs will have to prove that they are more than a compensation measure, but already providing a range of multifunctional tasks.territorial impact, rural development, less-favoured areas, LFA scheme, CAP reform

Policies for the environment and rural development in the mountain area of Austria

38th European Regional Science Association ? Congress 1998 Topic G: Environmental Management, Sustainability and Development Policies for the Environment and Rural Development in the Mountain Area of Austria (Abstract) by Gerhard Hovorka The cultural landscape in Austria is characterised by the high proportion of mountain areas. Mountain agriculture bears the key role in safeguarding the sensitive eco-system in the mountain areas and thereby maintaining the general living and working space as well as the cultural landscape. The study presents and evaluates two approaches corresponding to the demands of an integrated policy for rural areas and the mountain area in particular (the Austrian mountain-farm aid, with the focus on the spatially-oriented sectoral programme "Mountain Farmers Special Programme?, and an integrated regional policy approach). The special feature of the new mountain farm policy was the regional policy approach in agricultural policy, involving the concentration of a whole package of proven and new measures for the consolidation of mountain and border-area farms whose survival was under threat, taking account of agricultural and non-agricultural income as the criterion for aid entitlement. One special innovation was the introduction of mountain farmers' allowance with the objective of a partial compensation for the more difficult conditions of production and the natural disadvantages of the location. The concept of endogenous regional development and the corresponding regional policy approaches of the federal government and the provinces had an essential influence on the further conceptual development of Austrian regional policy. The promotion of ecologically and socially acceptable development, and of a market-niche strategy ? in particular in tourism and agriculture ? through financial subsidies and regional advisory facilities, led to the realisation of numerous innovative pilot projects in the mountain areas. After Austria's accession to the EU, the EU policy for agriculture in the mountain area and the regional policy had to be adopted by Austria (redefinition of the mountain area, EU compensatory allowance-system, agri-environmental scheme, Objective 5b programmes, EU community initiatives). The most important points for a successful mountain-area policy will be shown in detail in the paper. The Austrian experience shows that successful policies to safeguard environmental amenities and the cultural landscape while promoting regional development in the mountain areas call for the incorporation of spatially oriented sectoral policies in integrated regional development strategies

A regional analysis of CAP expenditure in Austria

This paper reflects the demand for taking account of the territorial dimension in the application of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) more comprehensively. While this has been addressed in rural development discourse to a wide extent over the last two decades and consensus for regionalized strategies is emerging, programme evaluation is in general still limited to the analysis of policy interventions at the national level. This implies that conclusions on the territorial effects of CAP are largely missing. Therefore the intention of this paper is to provide a regional analysis of CAP expenditures for pillar 1 and pillar 2, and to demonstrate and assess their actual territorial impacts, represented on the basis of the NUTS 3 region ‘Obersteiermark West’: The territorial analysis presented is an example to reduce this gap (national vs territorial) in the evaluation of CAP.CAP expenditure, regional analysis, territorial effectiveness, Agricultural and Food Policy, Q18,

The territorial dimension of the Common Agricultural and Rural Development policy (CAP) and its relation to cohesion objectives

An increasing focus on rural development issues has characterised the discussion of Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) reform. This reflects new societal demands for tasks and services provided by agriculture particularly in mountain and less-favoured areas (LFA). The regional distribution of CAP and Rural Development support underpins the argument that the territorial dimension implied by CAP reforms has not yet been taken sufficiently into account. The regional variation in the distribution of the LFA scheme between member states testifies this imbalance and underscores country specific priorities. LFAs will have to prove that they are more than a compensation measure, but already providing a range of multifunctional tasks

REFORMING PILLAR 2 –TOWARDS SIGNIFICANT AND SUSTAINABLE RURAL DEVELOPMENT?

With the ongoing “Health Check” and the decisions needed for after 2013, the Common Agricultural Policy is likely to see another major reform and an increase in compulsory modulation. By employing a regional model, this paper compares the long-term impact of spending along the Pillar 2 Axes in NUTS3 areas on selected indicators of sustainability in several peripheral areas across Europe. The four case study areas are: Pinzgau-Pongau (a tourism-dominated alpine area in Austria), the Wetterau (an urbanised industrial area in Germany), Gorenjska (a tourism and manufacturing dominated area in Slovenia) and Caithness-Sutherland (a remote area in Scotland). The results suggest although devolution in European rural development policy has taken over the last 10 years, there is further need to restore place-based stewardship of public goods and services as well as private investments across rural areas in the European Union. Increasing the importance of Axis 2 and Axis 3 measures (part of CAP Pillar 2) therefore seems an obvious choice for the future. Furthermore, it is clear that the effects of wider societal trends such as the decreasing importance of agriculture, commuting and migration, can be weakened or amplified by EU funding but can not be reversed or significantly changed.CAP, Pillar 2, rural development, Agricultural and Food Policy, R15, Q18, Q01,

Applying a social-ecological approach to enhancing provision of public goods through agriculture and forestry activities across the European Union

Public goods provided by different land management practices in European regions have increasingly attained attention in agricultural policy debates. By focusing on the social-ecological systems (SES) framework, the systemic interrelations (e.g. drivers, resources, actors, governance regimes and policy impact) in land management across several case studies in various topographical and climatic conditions across ten European Union Member States are provided. The analysis of agricultural and forestry systems reveals a wide range of factors that drive the provision of ‘ecologically and socially beneficial outcomes’ (ESBOs). The respective influencing aspects cannot be reduced to market forces and policy support, but have to address simultaneously the pivotal role of social, cultural and institutional drivers as well. In particular, the tight interplay between public policies and private initiatives, and market mechanisms and societal appreciation of public goods delivery have shown to be the indispensable clue for understanding the relationship shaping the level of provision of public goods. Comparative analyses support the strong reliance on context, history, types of regions and differentiation of management systems which might be used for recommendations in the current debate on the future Common Agricultural Policy

Nitrated monoaromatic hydrocarbons (nitrophenols, nitrocatechols, nitrosalicylic acids) in ambient air: levels, mass size distributions and inhalation bioaccessibility

Nitrated monoaromatic hydrocarbons (NMAHs) are ubiquitous in the environment and an important part of atmospheric humic-like substances (HULIS) and brown carbon. They are ecotoxic and with underresearched toxic potential for humans. NMAHs were determined in size-segregated ambient particulate matter collected at two urban sites in central Europe, Ostrava and Kladno, Czech Republic. The average sums of 12 NMAHs (Σ12NMAH) measured in winter PM10 samples from Ostrava and Kladno were 102 and 93 ng m−3, respectively, and 8.8 ng m−3 in summer PM10 samples from Ostrava. The concentrations in winter corresponded to 6.3–7.3% and 2.6–3.1% of HULIS-C and water-soluble organic carbon (WSOC), respectively. Nitrocatechols represented 67–93%, 61–73% and 28–96% of NMAHs in PM10 samples collected in winter and summer at Ostrava and in winter at Kladno, respectively. The mass size distribution of the targeted substance classes peaked in the submicrometre size fractions (PM1), often in the PM0.5 size fraction especially in summer. The bioaccessible fraction of NMAHs was determined by leaching PM3 samples in two simulated lung fluids, Gamble’s solution and artificial lysosomal fluid (ALF). More than half of NMAH mass is found bioaccessible, almost complete for nitrosalicylic acids. The bioaccessible fraction was generally higher when using ALF (mimics the chemical environment created by macrophage activity, pH 4.5) than Gamble’s solution (pH 7.4). Bioaccessibility may be negligible for lipophilic substances (i.e. log KOW > 4.5)

Oxygenated and Nitrated Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons in Ambient Air-Levels, Phase Partitioning, Mass Size Distributions, and Inhalation Bioaccessibility

Among the nitrated and oxygenated polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (NPAHs and OPAHs) are some of the most hazardous substances to public health, mainly because of their carcinogenicity and oxidative potential. Despite these concerns, the concentrations and fate of NPAHs and OPAHs in the atmospheric environment are largely unknown. Ambient air concentrations of 18 NPAHs, 5 quinones, and 5 other OPAHs were determined at two urban and one regional background sites in central Europe. At one of the urban sites, the total (gas and particulate) concentrations of Sigma(10)OPAHs were 10.0 +/- 9.2 ng/m(3) in winter and 3.5 +/- 1.6 ng/m(3) in summer. The gradient to the regional background site exceeded 1 order of magnitude. Sigma(18)NPAH concentrations were typically 1 order of magnitude lower than OPAHs. Among OPAHs, 9-fluorenone and (9,10)-anthraquinone were the most abundant species, accompanied by benzanthrone in winter. (9,10)-Anthraquinone represented two-thirds of quinones. We found that a large fraction of the target substance particulate mass was carried by submicrometer particles. The derived inhalation bioaccessibility in the PM10 size fraction is found to be approximate to 5% of the total ambient concentration of OPAHs and up to approximate to 2% for NPAHs. For 9-fluorenone and (9,10)-anthraquinone, up to 86 and 18%, respectively, were found at the rural site. Our results indicate that water solubility could function as a limiting factor for bioaccessibility of inhaled particulate NPAHs and OPAHs, without considerable effect of surfactant lipids and proteins in the lung lining fluid