Policy Insights - Habitat connectivity: good for the environment and good for business

A healthy environment and biodiversity can be positive for jobs, while on the other hand employment and services can be adversely affected by biodiversity loss, which continues to represent a serious threat for all EU countries due to both agricultural intensification and land abandonment.

The new CAP has aimed to enhance environmental ambition while allowing flexibility of the CAP Strategic Plans (CSPs) under the policy’s Green Architecture, which provides for an integrated approach toward mandatory conditionality measures, voluntary eco-schemes and agri-environment and climate measures.

This article reviews some of the specific CAP components being used to target biodiversity protection and habitat connectivity, such as ecosystem services that may be supported through maintaining, restoring, and creating new landscape features. It also stresses the many business benefits resulting from habitat connectivity, ranging from the resilience of many rural businesses to long-term food security and agri-food businesses sustainability.