Bird population decline accelerated after Czech EU entry

The bird population has been declining in Czech farmland, with the decline accelerating since the country's EU entry in 2004, experts from Charles University's Faculty of Sciences write in a study published by the Conservation Letters international journal. The joint European policy and system of agricultural subsidies are unfavourable to birds and wildlife, the study says, cited by the Czech Society for Ornithology (CSO).

The bird population size is a significant indicator of healthy nature and natural diversity. In Europe, the farmland bird populations have been declining since the 1970s. In the late 20th century, "the decline was sharper in west European countries and was ascribed to their joining the EU's single agricultural policy, which is based on the subsidising of the highest possible number of farm enterprises," the ornithologists said. To raise crops, farmers now use more effective fertilisers and pesticides. Natural biotopes for birds have been disappearing together with their offer of bird food and nesting places," Jiri Reif, the study's leading author, said.

Source: Prague Daily Monitor, 23 July 2018
http://praguemonitor.com/2018/07/24/study-bird-population-decline-accel…