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French Government Seeks SAC’s Advice on Tackling Farmland Biodiversity Decline
Three senior officials from the French Ministry of Agriculture’s General Council of Food, Agriculture and Rural Areas visited SAC recently to find out about measures which have been taken in the UK to help address declining farmland biodiversity.
Yves Riou, Bernard Charpentier and Phillippe de Quatrebarbes, accompanied by Laurence Foskett from the French Embassy in London, met Dr Davy McCracken, SAC’s Reader in Agricultural Ecology, and Eleonore Guillem, who is conducting a farmland biodiversity PhD within SAC’s Land Economy & Environment Research Group.
The officials made the visit a part of a fact-finding tour of four EU Member States (Germany, Spain, Italy and the UK) looking at innovative responses to declining farmland biodiversity across Europe. Their findings will form a report suggesting policies and practices that could be adopted to help tackle the problem.
Dr McCracken said: “The officials have been given a wealth of detail about the different schemes in operation within the four countries but they were also especially keen to hear about the practicalities and effectiveness of the different approaches taken across Europe to-date.
“Although our discussion covered a wide range of farmland biodiversity concerns, Yves, Bernard and Phillippe put a particular emphasis on my experience of working with European High Nature Value farming systems.”
The meeting ended with the French visitors expressing sincere thanks for the welcome and hospitality they received at SAC, as well as complimenting Davy and Eleonore on their wide-ranging knowledge of European farmland biodiversity issues and the enthusiastic way in which they put their views across.