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Good practice Imported

Cyprus's National Agri-Environment-Climate & Natura 2000 Payments Scheme

Cyprus · Nicosia · See the Cyprus profile · See the Nicosia profile

Evidence: Descriptive / self-reported Top 96% 20/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

Cyprus's 2014-2020 Rural Development Programme put 36,742 hectares under agri-environment-climate contracts and paid farmers across its 63-site, 1,789km2 Natura 2000 network, backed by EUR132.2M EU co-financing — sources report budgets and area, not verified outcomes.

36742 hectares
Agricultural land under agri-environment-climate contracts
63 sites
Natura 2000 network sites
1789 km²
Natura 2000 network area
132214377 EUR
EAFRD co-financing
243310145 EUR
Total public expenditure
53 %
EAFRD co-financing match rate
Cyprus's National Agri-Environment-Climate & Natura 2000 Payments Scheme

Details

Maturity
Established
Promoter
Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Republic of Cyprus
Period
2014-2020
Region (NUTS)
CY00
Keywords
agri-environment-climate payments, Natura 2000 compensation, rural development

Context

Cyprus's Rural Development Programme 2014-2020, run by the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, put 36,742 hectares of agricultural land under agri-environment-climate contracts targeting biodiversity preservation, improved water management and soil-erosion prevention.

Objectives

The programme also compensates farmers and forest owners working within Cyprus's Natura 2000 network of 63 marine and terrestrial sites covering 1,789 km², where EU nature-protection rules restrict some agricultural and forestry practices.

Activities

The 2014-2020 programme was backed by EUR 132,214,377 in European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development co-financing at a 53% match rate, bringing total public expenditure to EUR 243,310,145. The scheme continues under the 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plan, approved by the European Commission in December 2022.

Results

Publicly available sources describe the scheme's budget and the area enrolled but do not provide farm-level participation counts or independent ecological outcome evaluations, so this practice is evidenced mainly at the level of financial and area commitments rather than measured environmental results.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Very high (> €5M) — EUR 132,214,377 EAFRD co-financing (53% match rate), total public expenditure EUR 243,310,145 for the 2014-2020 programme.
Time to results
Long (> 3 years) — Ran 2014-2020, continuing under the 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plan approved December 2022 — over a decade of continuous national implementation.
Staffing & skills
Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Environment, Republic of Cyprus, Participating farmers and forest owners

Conditions for success

  • EU co-financing via the European Agricultural Fund for Rural Development
  • Continuity into the 2023-2027 CAP Strategic Plan

Common failure modes

  • No farm-level participation counts published
  • No independent ecological outcome evaluation published

Commonly funded by

National / regional programmes

Indicative funding routes for practices of this type — always check each programme's current calls and eligibility rules.

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

Attachments

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