Regulatory and incentive instruments for biodiversity management on farms

For achieving politically set goals, a range of instruments exists. These are techniques, ways or procedures used by different political levels to influence economic, social or spatial processes. By analysing literature, we created an overview of instruments motivating European farmers to conserve biodiversity. While the EU nature directives represent the backbone of EU biodiversity legislation, also the basic requirements under the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) operate de facto as a regulatory baseline, impacting ca. 84% of the EU’s farmland. Yet, the potential of EU regulation and incentives to support biodiversity friendly agricultural practices under the CAP, remains largely unrealised. In the future CAP, the new conditionality might have positive impacts on biodiversity provision.