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Brickz - Natural Soil Improver

Discover how using biomass residues to produce a fertiliser, which is then used to grow trees, and will, over time, improve soil quality, has led to significant financial savings for nature conservation organisations and tree nurseries.

Find out more about this EIP Operational Group Project, which is also a RIA Awards2020 winner in the category “Bioeconomy”.

The European Commission public consultation on the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas is open for replies. To achieve such a vision, it is necessary to assess what life is like in the rural areas of Europe, and map out what is key for their prosperity. If you are interested in the future of EU rural areas and their inhabitants, participate and share your opinion by 30 November 2020. The questionnaire is available in all official EU languages and you can submit your responses in any of these languages too.

You can find more information about the public consultation here and about the Long-Term Vision for Rural Areas initiative here.

The Council reached three important political agreements for Europe's agriculture and fisheries sectors during the two-day Council in Luxembourg (19-20 October 2020). Ministers agreed a general approach on the common agriculture policy (CAP) reform package, adopted conclusions on the farm to fork strategy and decided the fishing opportunities in the Baltic Sea for 2021. The agreement highlights strong commitments from member states for higher environmental ambition by introducing instruments like mandatory eco-schemes and enhanced conditionality. As a next step, on 23 October 2020 the European Parliament has finalised its position on the post-2022 EU farm policy reform, for a greener, fairer, and more robust EU farm policy. MEPs want to make the EU farm policy more sustainable and resilient to continue to deliver food security across the EU. Formal trialogues can be expected to start soon with the aim of bringing the CAP reform to a final conclusion.

Read more about the Council’s meeting conclusions here and in the EP’s press release here.

The European Commission has presented its plan to reduce EU greenhouse gas emissions by at least 55% by 2030, compared to 1990 levels. This level of ambition for the next decade will put the EU on a balanced pathway to reaching climate neutrality by 2050. The new target is based on a comprehensive Impact Assessment of the social, economic and environmental impacts which demonstrates that this course of action is realistic and feasible. This raised ambition also underlines the EU's continued global leadership, ahead of the next UN climate conference (COP26).

For more information and background materials, please visit this website.

The #EU Green Deal map is the European Committee of the Regions (CoR)’s new initiative that showcases the steps being taken across the EU by regions and cities in an effort to decarbonise the European economy. The map shows how individual communities are transforming their way of living and working, of producing and consuming, and how they are trying to achieve environmental, sustainable, social and economic growth. Local best practices can be shared with the CoR via a link on the map page. Further details about CoR's ‘Green Deal Going Local’ working group and its legislative and political work are available in the report 'The Green Deal goes local!'.

The first annual ‘Farm to Fork Conference - Building sustainable food systems together’, co-organised by DGs SANTE and AGRI, took place on 15-16 October 2020. The event was a first opportunity to gather all key stakeholders including public authorities, academia, and all the actors in the food value chain – farmers, food manufacturers, retailers, food services and consumers – to discuss the Farm to Fork Strategy for a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system, which is at the heart of the European Green Deal.

Listen to the recordings or find out more on the conference website. 

The Farm to Fork Strategy aims to develop a fair, healthy and environmentally-friendly food system in the EU. To gauge public knowledge of the current system and citizens’ appetite for change, this Special Eurobarometer aims to uncover their food buying and eating habits, find out what they believe constitutes ‘sustainability’, assess their willingness to switch to a healthier, more sustainable diet and find out who should be responsible for change. This survey was carried out in the 27 Member States of the European Union between 3 August and 15 September 2020 among 27,237 European citizens.

MEPs discussed and agreed this month that the post-2020 EU Forest Strategy, due for the beginning of 2021, should be independent and self-standing, properly aligned with the European Green Deal and ensuring that forests continue to play a multifunctional role. Sustainable forest management (SFM) should make the sector economically viable and environmentally sound, promoting the forests’ environmental, societal and economic sustainability. The new strategy should help to bolster European disaster resilience and early warning tools to increase prevention and preparedness e.g. for fires, floods or pest infestations, and support adaptation of forests to climate change.

Read more from the European Parliament's perspective about high-quality management of EU forests and woodlands.

Local Action Groups (LAGs) from France, Poland and Spain are looking for partners for LEADER projects on cultural heritage, social inclusion, rural tourism and more. Browse the CLLD Partner Search page on the ENRD website to know more!

If you are interested in LEADER transnational cooperation with third countries, check the new document available on ENRD’s LEADER Cooperation section (‘Useful documents’).

A report by the SHERPA project - Sustainable Hub to Engage into Rural Policies with Actors - reviews foresight and scenario studies identifying possible futures and scenarios for rural areas. The report is based on studies carried out at EU and global levels for time periods up to 2050. SHERPA is a Horizon 2020 project aiming to gather knowledge that contributes to the formulation of recommendations for future policies relevant to EU rural areas, by creating a science-society-policy interface.

The Helpdesk’s Back to Basics Section of the ENRD website presents basic evaluation related information on a variety of topics in order to provide rural development stakeholders with an overview of the fundamental concepts that can serve to help those who are unacquainted with the evaluation process, the actors involved, and key concepts. You can also discover a selection of EU funded projects currently working on innovations for data collection which can support monitoring and evaluation.

The ENRD CP office in Brussels remains closed until further notice due to the COVID-19 outbreak but ENRD activities are all going ahead using digital approaches adapted to the new context. The team is as busy as ever networking, organising and delivering virtual events, producing publications and keeping you abreast of the latest news. We invite you to keep an eye on the Upcoming Events section of our website, where we list relevant forthcoming events. Feel free to contact us at any time!

The meeting presented activities and steps that are planned for developing the Vision, discussed the key trends and drivers that are shaping the future of rural areas, and considered how to support stakeholder engagement in the development of the Vision in different parts of Europe.

The presentations from the day are available on the event page, together with relevant background documents.

This interim meeting was designed to provide TG members with more space to discuss and understand the drivers of the Foresight exercise that will feed into an EU Communication expected in the second quarter of 2021, and for exploring possible scenarios for #Rural2040 in preparation for the following TG meeting in December 2020.

The ENRD TG’s first meeting on the European Green Deal (EGD) defined the specific topics that the TG will address in its further work until May 2021. The objectives were: to provide an overview of the EGD policies / actions that have most relevance to rural areas and agriculture; to clarify the role of CAP in the delivery of EGD environmental and climate objectives and discuss and to validate the specific working topics of the TG. The presentations from the day are available on the event page, together with short videos and other relevant background documents.

The eighth meeting of the European Rural Networks’ Assembly’s permanent Sub-group on LEADER/CLLD took place in virtual form and provided an update on Commission initiatives relating to LEADER. In addition, Local Action Groups, rural and LEADER networks presented an overview of recent LEADER activities, LEADER responses to the COVID-19 situation, and how lessons from these can be used in planning for LEADER in the next period. The presentations from the day are available on the event page, together with relevant background documents.

This edition of the Projects Brochure brings the 25 finalists of the Rural Inspiration Awards (RIA) 2019 back into the spotlight. It gives well‑deserved visibility for their projects, provides updates on their achievements, and aims to inspire new projects. The publication is now available in 6 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Spanish and Polish.

This factsheet focuses on the approach and methodologies used in the evaluation support study published by the European Commission on the impact of the CAP on habitats, landscapes, and biodiversity.