BESTMAP is delighted to officially announce the upcoming Final Dissemination Event, which will take place on 7th February, 2024 in Brussels, Belgium. This significant for the project event, titled "Research Lessons to Inform Future CAP Reform", is coordinated by the project's partners from RISE Foundation in collaboration with BESTMAP's sisters projects within the AGRIMODELS cluster and under the umbrella of the ForumForAg initiative. The primary objective is to investigate the effectiveness of our current agri-environmental schemes in achieving the necessary environmental impact and to consider how the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) could better contribute to halting biodiversity loss in Europe.

 

The Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) plays a crucial role in aiming to transition to and maintain sustainable practices while addressing biodiversity loss and the challenges of climate change. Despite an annual spending of €12.1 billion on environmentally oriented measures, concerns persist about the ongoing decline of biodiversity in Europe and the unmet environmental goals. The main questions are why the current agri-environmental schemes cannot fulfil the necessary environmental impact and how the CAP could better help halt biodiversity loss in Europe.

 

To answer these questions, the use of analytical tools is critical. For this reason, results from three H2020 European research projects affiliated with the AGRIMODEL cluster (BESTMAP, AGRICORE, MIND STEP) will be presented and discussed with a high-stakes panel of stakeholders. This discussion will include scientific evidence, facts, and figures regarding the current impact of agro-environmental policies, as well as possible policy suggestions.

 

The ultimate goal is to formulate a set of recommendations, which will be presented at the Forum for the Future of Agriculture in March 2024, the premier meeting place in Brussels to debate sustainable agriculture and environmental challenges, attracting diverse stakeholders, from international institutions to farmers, NGOs, and businesses (https://forumforag.com/).

 

The draft agenda for the event is available here.