Implementation of a EU wide indicator for the rural-agrarian landscapeIn support of COM(2006)508 “Development of agri-environmental indicators for monitoring the integration of environmental concerns into the Common Agricultural Policy”

The report explains the conceptual and methodological development of the agrienvironmental indicator on landscape state and diversity, calculated in support of COM(2006)508 “Development of agri-environmental indicators for monitoring the integration of environmental concerns into the common agricultural policy”. The indicator is based on three components: the degree of naturalness of the rural-agrarian landscape, intended as the influence exerted by society on the agrarian landscape with its agricultural activities and modifications of the original natural state introduced by farming practices; the physical structure, intended as land cover and its spatial organisation as a product of land management (organisation of different land cover types, plot size, fragmentation, diversity etc.); the societal awareness of the rural-agrarian landscape, as the society perceives, values and assesses landscape quality; the society plans, manages, and uses the landscape for productive or non productive purposes.