The public goods bonus and the “eco-schemes” in the new CAP architecture beyond 2020

Art.-Nr.: P076 EN 2019 1D

In its concept of the public goods bonus (PGB), Landcare Germany (Deutscher Verband für Landschaftspflege, DVL) presented a proposal back in 2016 for how the provision by a farming business of the land-related public goods of biodiversity, climate and water protection could be mapped and recompensed in income through the determination of a total points score. The proposal was geared towards a reorientation of the CAP beyond 2020, but did not at the time offer any suggestions as to how the concept of the PGB could actually be integrated into a future CAP architecture, since no information on the relevant parameters was yet available.

This paper fleshes out how the PGB concept could in principle be integrated into the current legislative proposal on the future of the CAP as “eco-schemes”. The explanations use the example of Schleswig-Holstein, since it was in this federal state that the evaluation method of the PGB was developed. Landcare Germany is currently engaged in a nationwide project investigating the transferability of the PGB method to other natural areas.

The purpose of this contribution is to encourage the current technical and political discussions processes on the future configuration of the CAP beyond 2020 by submitting a specific proposal based on the Commission Proposal. Landcare Germany’s proposal on the integration of the PGB into the eco-schemes is therefore not to be understood as conclusive, but will instead be continuously updated as the subsidiary and in particular legal framework at national level becomes clearer and in the light of further findings from the nationwide Landcare Germany project running in parallel.