Why broach this topic?
The rural areas in Europe and Wallonia produce and feed people, provide employment, offer a wide variety of landscapes, shelter and contribute to the conservation of most of the European biodiversity, meet most ecological functions (groundwater recharge, soil fertility, water purification, production of renewable energy, ...) and represent important places for culture and leisure. These territories are undergoing profound changes (agriculture, spatial changes, environment, ...) and are facing new challenges (energy, climate change).
Economists and policymakers are now wondering whether we can put a price on nature and how we can determine a monetary value. The underlying idea is that any natural or developed ecosystem provides services to society. So when I bite into an apple, when I breathe or when I drink a glass of water, I owe it to the proper functioning of ecosystems. Nature thus provides Eco-Systemic Services (ESS) to society. In questioning the value of ESS, we seek to identify particular means of payment for environmental services. The Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report proposes to classify ESS into four categories:
· supply services (products obtained from ecosystems)
· regulating services (benefits obtained through the functioning of ecosystems)
· cultural services (non-material benefits such as the beauty of a landscape)
· support services (vital services needed for the production of all other services).
It is therefore necessary to consider the role farmers, foresters and businesses could play as managers of developed ecosystems. First of all, it is necessary to look at agriculture, forestry and the relationship between business and biodiversity from a different angle than usual. The Walloon Rural Development network proposes to explore, during this European meeting, those new points of view, also developed elsewhere in Europe, as well as potential applications in Wallonia.
Our guests
The seminar is open to all European stakeholders in rural development and all beneficiaries of the Walloon Rural Development Program, but it also targets stakeholders in territorial development sensitive to the management of public goods: territorial structure managers, agricultural and environmental associations, business federations, local administration members and regional and local politicians, associations and consulting firms...
The three thematic gateways / the questions
Topic 1 - Multifunctional Agriculture and management of environmental public goods
Agriculture participates in the production of many environmental public goods such as landscapes and the preservation of agricultural heritage, the availability and quality of surface runoff and groundwater, resilience to flooding, biodiversity of farmland, etc...
This role is increasingly recognized, more so when agriculture becomes "multifunctional". Repayment for these contributions is increasingly on the agenda. Thus, the implementation of agri-environmental measures, the proposal of Payments for Environmental Services (FAO)... clearly ask what agriculture contributes to the preservation of environmental services and fees, in connection with the territories. What are the thoughts on this topic today in Europe and Wallonia? Which action plans can be developed?
· Multifunctional agriculture contributes to the production of environmental public goods, how can synergies be enhanced?
· How can a better integration of agri-environmental measures in a territorial approach be ensured?
· Is an approach by ecosystemic services an innovative approach? How can it be used to develop a better characterization of public goods and of agriculture’s contributions to them?
· Establishing Payments for Environmental Services: Is it possible? How?
· How can the measures of Rural Development Programs contribute to the production of environmental services?
· How can environmental public goods be taken more into account in Rural Development policies? Management of environmental public goods: What responsibilities for what key players?
Topic 2 - Business and environmental public goods
How can we go from protecting the environment to managing environmental public goods?
Companies are sensitive to the issue of eco-systemic services if they want to develop sustainably. First, because of increased regulations on the subject, but also because the protection of biodiversity and eco-systems becomes the second environmental concern after climate change.
The establishment of business areas or companies in the countryside has an impact on rural ecosystems: clean water, energy, mobility, landscape, agricultural land use ... It may also strongly influence the area with regard to the production of energy or goods from local resources, the use of local materials, the production of environmental public goods...and thus promote the diversification of the rural economy.
The companies and their trade union gradually incorporate these issues into their strategic concerns: environmental consulting, European Platform on business and biodiversity, and networking opportunities for dialogue between research sector and enterprises, development of work methods such as EMAS or Analysis of Life Cycles, ...
· How do companies located in rural areas assume their environmental responsibility? How do they comply with the environmental protection legislation in force? What support do they have? Do standard environmental Systems like EMAS and / or 14001 help companies to better take into account environmental issues and protection? Do companies adopt concerted strategies (clusters) to take into account the cumulative risk, the domino effects?
· Do companies located in rural areas participate in the production of public goods? Which jobs or new services can they generate in this sector? How do we go from fighting attacks on the environment to providing environmental public goods? How can the principles of eco-conception be incorporated in their process?
Topic 3 - The multifunctional forest in the service of society: What management for what contributions?
Taking into account services rendered by the forest opens up new prospects and requires to consider new ways of managing forest areas. The proposed forum will attempt to show how innovative and rational management for the different roles of the forest may provide some added value to owners (whether private or public) and users. In this sense, the implementation of Payments for Environmental Services contributes to the sustainable management of forests.
Through examples, you will discover how the same forest can be a source of income, housing, land of scientific experimentation, playground and discovery, etc..
· What does "multifunctional forest" mean and what are the various services provided by forest ecosystems?
· How is the multifunctionality of the forest understood at the European level?
· How do managers from other member states take into account the multifunctionality of the forest? Which adaptive management? What objectives? What constraints? To what effect?
· How can a private landowner guide his forest management towards a multifunctional management? With what objectives? What are the benefits and constraints?
· How can a private forest become both a place for experimentation and a place of recreation?
