• • • Commissioner Hogan announces “1 hectare initiative” at Forestry Conference
At the conference ‘Our Forests, Our Future’, Commissioner Hogan announced a potential initiative to encourage Member States to reach the ambitious environmental policy objectives of the post-2020 Common Agricultural Policy proposals. The initiative proposes to reward farmers with payments for the afforestation of one hectare. This afforestation should be done in a biodiversity-friendly way, contributing to climate and environmental objectives.
This initiative can be programmed through Rural Development funding and could help Member States to meet their climate and biodiversity objectives. It would be another practical example of farmers providing public goods with public support. In order to limit the administrative burden for beneficiaries and public authorities a lump-sum payment per year and per hectare could be offered to each participating farmer over the next budget period.
Commissioner Hogan encouraged Member States to take up this initiative as it would contribute to the achievement of environmental targets and help safeguard our public goods, including forests.
