The European Union should have environmental indicators

The Council of Ministers has announced its strategy for the integration of environment and sustainable development into the Common Agricultural Policy. In fact, during the session held on December 19th 2006, the Agriculture and Fisheries Council adopted conclusions according to which the 25 member countries agree to a “coherent set of agri-environmental indicators”.

According to explanations given by the European Commission in a statement made in September 2006, the list of 28 indicators proposed relate to an essential system for:

> determining and evaluating the impact of decisions;
> defining any missing components;
> identifying and planning new measures necessary to make them compatible with local conditions.

The objective is to establish agri-environmental indicators capable of comprehending with accuracy the diversity of the systems and structures of agricultural production and to measure their effects on the environment.

Taking indicators such as these into account is absolutely fundamental: since its creation, WOAgri has clearly moved in this direction by integrating environmental variables into the development of its economic model (the NAR model). In fact, an approach incorporating all factors is the only way to guarantee the development of a viable global agriculture in the long-term.