Lessons learned and future directions of OECD work on agri-environmental indicators Kevin Parris, Agricultural Policies and Environment Division, OECD, Paris, France

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Lessons learned and future directions of OECD
workon agri-environmental indicatorsKevin
Parris, Agricultural Policies and Environment
Division, OECD, Paris, France
Presentation to the Joint Task Force on
Environmental Indicators, UNECE Committee on
Environmental Policy, Geneva, Switzerland, 31
October, 2012
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OECD AND ITS GLOBAL PARTNERS
Membership has expanded over OECDs 50 year
history to embrace 34 countries and the European
Union
OECD is currently in accession talks with
Russia and enhanced engagement with Brazil,
China, India, Indonesia, South Africa
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OECD Work on Agri-environmental Indicators
(AEIs) Past and Present

• 1993 2001
• Environmental Indicators for Agriculture Volumes
  1, 2, and 3
• 2001 2011
• 7 Expert Meetings Biodiversity, Landscapes,
  Soil Organic Carbon, Soil Erosion/Biodiversity,
  Land Conservation, Farm Management, and Water Use
  and Water Quality
• Washington, D.C., United States, Workshop (2007)
• Environmental Performance of Agriculture in OECD
  Countries since 1990, summary At A Glance and
  Electronic Database (2008)
• Leysin, Switzerland Workshop (March,2010)
• Zaragoza, Spain, Workshop on Water Information
  Systems (May 2010)
• Working with OECD countries (e.g. Canada, Israel,
  Korea, Poland)

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Coverage of OECD agri-environmental indicators

• Policy and market drivers impacting on env.
  performance of agriculture
• Agricultural production, land use, organic
  farming and transgenic crops
• Nutrients nitrogen and phosphorus balances
• Pesticides sales
• Energy on-farm energy consumption, biofuel
  production (agric. feedstocks)
• Soil water and wind erosion
• Water resources withdrawals, irrigated area and
  water application rates
• Water quality nitrates, phosphorus and
  pesticides
• Ammonia emissions acidification and
  eutrophication
• Greenhouse gas emissions climate change
• Methyl bromide use ozone depletion
• Biodiversity farmland bird populations and
  agricultural land cover

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Value of set of agri-environmental indicators

• Describes driving forces, current state and
  trends of environmental conditions in agriculture
• Highlights where hot spots are emerging
• Provides a tool to better explain the causes and
  effects of changes in environment
• Compares trends in performance across countries
  and in relation to environment targets
• Establishes a database for policy analysis
  monitoring, evaluation and projection scenarios

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AEI limitations and areas to be developed

1. Definitions and methodologies for calculating
   indicators
2. Data availability, quality, comparability, and
   spatial aggregation
3. Trends and ranges relative to absolute levels
4. Agricultures contribution to env. impacts
5. Indicator baselines, threshold levels and targets
6. Time lags, often environmental outcomes can take
   a long time to appear (phosphorus --
   groundwater)
7. AEIs in physical units, but if measured in
   monetary terms would be a common unit

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Viewing AEIs in a broader context

1. Work on establishing AEIs is relatively recent
   compared to other economic and social indicators
2. Complexity of trying to encapsulate very diverse
   biophysical and economic conditions
3. Many of the caveats and limitations to the AEIs
   apply to other socio-economic indicators (e.g.
   inflation rate, unemployment), but the
   biophysical element is key difference
4. Indicators are only part of policy analyst
   toolbox, not whole story

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Future Directions for OECD work on AEIs

• Clear mandate from OECD Agriculture Ministerial
  meeting (Feb 2010) to focus more on agriculture
  and environment
• Preparing 2nd edition of OECD Compendium of
  Agri-environmental indicators (forthcoming early
  2013)
• Greater use of AEIs in OECD policy analysis
  climate change water agriculture and
  environment Outlooks and country economic
  surveys and env. performance reviews
• Fostering closer cooperation with Member
  countries, new (Chile, Estonia, Israel, Slovenia)
  and old (Canada, Korea)
• Strengthening cooperation with International
  Organisations, (Eurostat, FAO, UNECE) agro-food
  chain research community

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Key OECD wide AEI messages and challenges

• AEIs are primarily to reveal the environmental
  performance of agriculture and provide one tool
  for policy monitoring, evaluation and outlook
  scenarios
• Balance needed between simplicity and timeliness
  (policy advisors, public) and robustness
  (scientific soundness)
• Challenge of budget constraints for new data
  collection and evaluation initiatives
• National indicators mask pressure points
  spatially, but also consider issue of leading
  economic indicators
• Thinking beyond pressure, state or response
  framework toward green growth indicators

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Gross nitrogen balance

• UNECE The balance between all nitrogen added to
  an agricultural system and nitrogen removed from
  the system (kg/year/hectare)
• Phosphorus balance ?

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Main elements in the gross nutrient (nitrogen
and phosphorus) balance calculation
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Water use intensity by agriculture

• UNECE indicator presented as
• (i) Total irrigable area.
• (ii) Irrigable area by type of crops grown with
  the aid of full or supplementary irrigation. (?)
• (iii) Share of irrigable area in the total
  utilized agricultural area.

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Water use intensity by agriculture
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Cropping and livestock patterns

• UNECE presented as
• (i) Total area of the major agricultural land
  uses (arable, permanent grassland and permanent
  crops).
• (ii) Trends in the share of major agricultural
  land uses in total utilized agricultural area.
• (iii) Livestock numbers of major livestock types
  (cattle, pigs, sheep, goats and poultry).
• (iv) Trends in the share of the major livestock
  types.
• Indicators iii iv in nutrient balance, but
  necessary on their own?

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Visit the OECD website Agri-environmental
indicators www.oecd.org/tad/env/indicators Conta
ct Kevin.Parris_at_oecd.org