Structural uncertainty in the scientific evaluation of the Strategic Plan of the Common Agricultural Policy in Spain

Abstract

The 2023–2027 period of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) introduces the requirement for each Member State to implement a Strategic Plan with explicit environmental and social objectives, whose effectiveness must be assessed through robust, comparable and scientifically grounded monitoring systems. In Spain, this requirement led in 2022 to the signing of an agreement between the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food (MAPA) and the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC) to develop indicators, sampling protocols and analytical frameworks for the evaluation of the CAP Strategic Plan (PEPAC). The termination of this agreement in September 2025, without a clearly defined framework for continuity, undermines the stability of the PEPAC evaluation system. This interruption hampers the development of consistent time series and the conduct of independent and comparable long-term assessments of the actual effects of CAP agri-environmental measures on agroecosystem biodiversity. In this note, we argue that the scientific evaluation of agri-environmental policies cannot rely on temporary institutional arrangements, and we analyse the risks that such structural discontinuity poses for the credibility, transparency and adaptive capacity of the PEPAC in Spain.