iCAP-BES
Impacts of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) on Biodiversity, Ecosystem Services and People
iCAP-BES is a Strategic Project of iDiv
2020–2021 (–2024, pending DFG approval)

Guy Pe’er
Project Leader
Phone: +49 341 9733182
Email: guy.peer@idiv.de
iDiv / UFZ (Dept. Ecosystem Services)
Team:
Carla Cerda
Judith Rakowski
Events, news and products
Public event, 19.5.2021:
CAP post-2020: Recommendations from >300 scientists to improve performance for biodiversity
iCAP-BES report: Views and recommendations to improve CAP performance for biodiversity (Release 19.5.2021)
GrazeLife Project Report: Policies to support extensive grazing (Link)
Aims
The aim of iCAP-BES is to facilitate a shift from identifying problems to designing and promoting solutions for improving farmland biodiversity, ecosystem services, and rural societies in Europe.
Specific objectives
Assess the CAP’s impacts on nature and people.
Identify and evaluate cascading effects of the CAP in Europe and globally.
Engaging in a close dialogue with policy makers and societal actors to enhance the uptake of existing and generated knowledge for a more sustainable CAP.
Project questions and activities
Q1: How can impacts of the CAP in its entirety, on nature (BD and ESS) and people (income and inequities), be better measured?
Action 1.1: Integrative analysis of (joint) paths of biodiversity and rural societies.
Action 1.2: Improve targets and indicators and provide guidelines for monitoring.
Q2: How does the CAP affect the sustainability of agricultural production in Europe?
Action 2: Analysis of CAP effects on production, with a focus on:
a) support for animal products (coupled and decoupled Direct Payments, AECM for extensive grazing) and
b) support for sustainable farming systems through CAP payments, labelling and certification.
Q3: How can CAP instruments be improved to promote habitat restoration and contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation?
Action 3: Identify risks and opportunities for the CAP regarding climate change mitigation and adaptation, and the role of natural capital and restoration in this context, through literature reviews, policy analyses and a SWOT analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)
Q4: How can behavioural (societal) action and governance changes be fostered toward better protection and restoration of farmland BD, ESS and rural societies?
Action 4.1: Support decision-making, with focus on landscape-level planning and result-based implementation
Action 4.2: Advancing the concept of a “socio-ecological frontier”
Strategic aims and actions
Enhance interdisciplinarity in iDiv
Support action-oriented research to promote evidence-based decision-making
Enhance strategic cooperation with key research institutes and societal actors (NGOs, GOs, companies)
Reports
Vol 3:
Policy brief
Related projects
GrazeLife (www.grazelife.eu)
Farmland birds (Developing tools to support farmland bird conservation in the EU – lead Umwelbundesamt Österreich)
Project partners
Aletta Bonn, UFZ / iDiv / FSU Jena
Bernd Hansjürgens, UFZ / iDiv
Martin Quaas, iDiv / U Leipzig
Christian Wirth, iDiv / U Leipzig
Nicole van Dam, iDiv / FSU Jena
Sebastian Lakner, Uni Rostock
Norbert Röder, Thünen Insttitute
Maren Birkenstock, Thünen Insttitute
Jens Dauber, Thünen Insttitute
Francisco Moreira, CIBIO / InBIO
Ângela Lomba, CIBIO / InBIO
Kimberly Nicholas, U Lund
Henrik Smith, U Lund
Clélia Siarmi, INRAE
Ralf Seppelt, UFZ / iDiv
Birgit Müller, UFZ