Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Assessment of agri-environmental situation in selected EU countries: a multi-criteria decision-making approach for sustainable agricultural development

  • Research Article
  • Published:
Environmental Science and Pollution Research Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

In recent years, humanity has faced with multiple crises, both of economic and environmental nature. Among the key reasons for such turbulences, the deteriorating agri-environmental situation appears as an important facet. This article evaluates agri-environmental situation of selected European Union (EU) countries using the multi-criteria decision making methods (SAW, TOPSIS, and EDAS) to identify the potential strategies for improvement of agricultural activities and environmental situation in general. The set of indicators, compiled from the database, prepared by the European Commission (EC) was used for this research. The empirical results show that the trends in agri-environmental situation of selected EU countries are similar under all the methods used. The best agri-environmental situation both at the beginning and at the end of the research period was in Finland, Ireland, and Sweden. On contrary, the worst situation was identified in the Netherlands, Denmark, and Germany. The only case of decline in the agri-environmental performance is observed for Lithuania, whereas ascension in ranks is observed for Austria and Poland. The results are of particular importance in the period of development of agri-environment and climate schemes for the European Union Common Agricultural Policy post-2020.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Fig. 1
Fig. 2
Fig. 3
Fig. 4
Fig. 5
Fig. 6
Fig. 7

Similar content being viewed by others

Data availability

The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

References

  • Aplinkos apsaugos politikos centras (2019) Lietuvos kaimo plėtros 2014–2020 m. programos įtakos gamtinei aplinkai analizė ir aplinkosauginių rodiklių identifikavimas 2016–2018 m. http://zum.lrv.lt/lt/veiklos-sritys/kaimo-pletra/lietuvos-kaimo-pletros-2014-2020-m-programa/stebesena-ir-vertinimas-1. Accessed 29 Nov 2021

  • Batáry P, Dicks LV, Kleijn D, Sutherland WJ (2015) The role of agri-environment schemes in conservation and environmental management. Conserv Biol 29(4):1006–1016

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Brambilla M, Gubert F, Pedrini P (2021) The effects of farming intensification on an iconic grassland bird species, or why mountain refuges no longer work for farmland biodiversity. Agric Ecosyst Environ 319:107518

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Council Directive 92/43/EEC of 21 May 1992 on the conservation of natural habitats and of wild fauna and flora. http://data.europa.eu/eli/dir/1992/43/oj. Accessed 29 Nov 2021

  • Czyżewski B, Matuszczak A, Grzelak A, Guth M, Majchrzak A (2021) Environmental sustainable value in agriculture revisited: how does Common Agricultural Policy contribute to eco-efficiency? Sustain Sci 16(1):137–152

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Czyżewski B, Trojanek R, Dzikuć M, Czyżewski A (2020) Cost-effectiveness of the common agricultural policy and environmental policy in country districts: spatial spillovers of pollution, bio-uniformity and green schemes in Poland. Sci Total Environ 726:138254

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • de Vries W, Schulte-Uebbing L, Kros H, Voogd JC, Louwagie G (2021) Spatially explicit boundaries for agricultural nitrogen inputs in the European Union to meet air and water quality targets. Sci Total Environ 786:147283

  • Deepa N, Ganesan K, Srinivasan K, Chang CY (2019) Realizing sustainable development via modified integrated weighting MCDM model for ranking agrarian dataset. Sustainability 11(21):6060

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Dong L, Yang XH, Li HT (2018) The Belt and Road Initiative and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development: seeking linkages for global environmental governance. Chin J Popul Resour Environ 16(3):203–210

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • European Commission (2019) A European Green Deal. https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en. Accessed 29 Nov 2021

  • European Commission (2020a) Biodiversity strategy for 2030. https://ec.europa.eu/environment/strategy/biodiversity-strategy-2030_en#the-business-case-for-biodiversity. Accessed 29 Nov 2021

  • European Commission (2020b) Farm to Fork Strategy. https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal/actions-being-taken-eu/farm-fork_en. Accessed 29 Nov 2021

  • European Commission (2021) CAP context indicators – 2019 update. https://ec.europa.eu/info/food-farming-fisheries/farming/facts-and-figures/performance-agricultural-policy/cap-indicators/context-indicators_en. Accessed 29 Nov 2021

  • Eurostat (2021) Indicator Database. https://ec.europa.eu/eurostat. Accessed 29 Nov 2021

  • Gameiro J, Silva JP, Franco AM, Palmeirim JM (2020) Effectiveness of the European Natura 2000 network at protecting Western Europe’s agro-steppes. Biol Conserv 248:108681

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gamero A, Brotons L, Brunner A, Foppen R, Fornasari L, Gregory RD, … Voříšek P (2017) Tracking progress toward EU biodiversity strategy targets: EU policy effects in preserving its common farmland birds. Conserv Lett 10(4), 395–402

  • Geer FCV, Kronvang B, Broers HP (2016) High-resolution monitoring of nutrients in groundwater and surface waters: process understanding, quantification of loads and concentrations, and management applications. Hydrol Earth Syst Sci 20(9):3619–3629

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghorabaee MK, Amiri M, Sadaghiani JS, Goodarzi GH (2014) Multiple criteria group decision-making for supplier selection based on COPRAS method with interval type-2 fuzzy sets. Int J Adv Manuf Technol 75(5–8):1115–1130

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ghorabaee MK, Zavadskas EK, Olfat L, Turskis Z (2015) Multi-criteria inventory classification using a new method of evaluation based on distance from average solution (EDAS). Informatica 26(3):435–451

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gómez-Limón JA, Arriaza M, Guerrero-Baena MD (2020) Building a composite indicator to measure environmental sustainability using alternative weighting methods. Sustainability 12(11):4398

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Grigera J, Garrido A, Zaraté P, Camilleri G, Fernández A (2018). A mixed usability evaluation on a multi criteria group decision support system in agriculture. In Proceedings of the XIX International Conference on Human Computer Interaction (pp. 1–4).

  • Grzybowski M, Glińska-Lewczuk K (2020) The principal threats to the peatlands habitats, in the continental bioregion of Central Europe–a case study of peatland conservation in Poland. J Nat Conserv 53:125778

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Gudas M (2018) Ariama žemė ir nitratai Lietuvos upėse – sąryšių analizė. https://vanduo.gamta.lt/cms/index?rubricId=56bf305d-885d-430e-b4d8-bcedda194f30. Accessed 29 Nov 2021

  • Hayashi K (2000) Multicriteria analysis for agricultural resource management: a critical survey and future perspectives. Eur J Oper Res 122(2):486–500

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Hwang CL, Yoon K (1981) Multiple attribute decision making: methods and applications a state of the art survey. Springer-Verlag, Berlin

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Ilbahar E, Cebi S, Kahraman C (2019) A state-of-the-art review on multi-attribute renewable energy decision making. Energ Strat Rev 25:18–33

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kahraman C, Ghorabaee MK, Zavadskas EK, Cevik Onar S, Yazdani M, Oztaysi B (2017) Intuitionistic fuzzy EDAS method: an application to solid waste disposal site selection. J Environ Eng Landsc Manag 25(1):1–12

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kelleghan DB, Hayes ET, Everard M, Keating P, Lesniak-Podsiadlo A, Curran TP (2021) Atmospheric ammonia and nitrogen deposition on Irish Natura 2000 sites: Implications for Irish agriculture. Atmos Environ 261:118611

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Knickel K, Maréchal A (2018) Stimulating the social and environmental benefits of agriculture and forestry: An EU-based comparative analysis. Land Use Policy 73:320–330

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lankoski J, Thiem A (2020) Linkages between agricultural policies, productivity and environmental sustainability. Ecol Econ 178:106809

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lehtonen H, Rankinen K (2015) Impacts of agri-environmental policy on land use and nitrogen leaching in Finland. Environ Sci Policy 50:130–144

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Lizot M, Trojan F, Afonso P (2021) Combining total cost of ownership and multi-criteria decision analysis to improve cost management in family farming. Agriculture 11(2):139

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • LR Žemės ūkio ministerija (2020) Nacionaliniai žemės ūkio ir kaimo plėtros politikos strateginiai tikslai ir poreikiai 2021–2027 m. Anketinės apklausos rezultatai. https://zum.lrv.lt/uploads/zum/documents/files/Apklausa%20del%20Strateginio%20plano%20poreikiu.pdf. Accessed 29 Nov 2021

  • Lugato E, Lavallee JM, Haddix ML, Panagos P, Cotrufo MF (2021) Different climate sensitivity of particulate and mineral-associated soil organic matter. Nat Geosci 14(5):295–300

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Meshram SG, Alvandi E, Meshram C, Kahya E, Al-Quraishi AMF (2020) Application of SAW and TOPSIS in prioritizing watersheds. Water Resour Manage 34(2):715–732

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Mohamed AA, Nageye AI (2021) Measuring the effect of land degradation and environmental changes on agricultural production in Somalia with two structural breaks. Manag Environ Qual Int J 32(2):160–174

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Murawska A, Prus P (2021) The Progress of Sustainable Management of Ammonia Emissions from Agriculture in European Union States Including Poland—Variation, Trends, and Economic Conditions. Sustainability 13(3):1035

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Pajewski T, Malak-Rawlikowska A, Gołębiewska B (2020) Measuring regional diversification of environmental externalities in agriculture and the effectiveness of their reduction by EU agri-environmental programs in Poland. J Clean Prod 276:123013

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Papathanasiou J, Ploskas N, Bournaris T, Manos B (2016) A decision support system for multiple criteria alternative ranking using TOPSIS and VIKOR: a case study on social sustainability in agriculture. In International Conference on Decision Support System Technology (pp. 3–15). Springer, Cham

  • Rial M, Cortizas AM, Rodríguez-Lado L (2017) Understanding the spatial distribution of factors controlling topsoil organic carbon content in European soils. Sci Total Environ 609:1411–1422

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  • Rozman Č, Grgić Z, Maksimović A, Ćejvanović F, Puška A, Šakić Bobić B (2016) Multiple-criteria approach of evaluation of milk farm models in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mljekarstvo 66(3):206–214

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Stockmann U, Padarian J, McBratney A, Minasny B, de Brogniez D, Montanarella L, … Field DJ (2015) Global soil organic carbon assessment. Global Food Security, 6, 9–16

  • Talukder B, Hipel KW, vanLoon GW (2018) Using multi-criteria decision analysis for assessing sustainability of agricultural systems. Sustain Dev 26(6):781–799

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Vico G, Prodanovic R and Bodiroga R (2017) A two-stage approach for multiple-criteria decision making in plant production. Proceedings: Savetovanje o Biotehnologiji sa međunarodnim učešćem, Čačak

  • Wang Z, Wang J, Zhang G, Wang Z (2021) Evaluation of agricultural extension service for sustainable agricultural development using a hybrid entropy and TOPSIS method. Sustainability 13(1):347

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Yazdani M, Torkayesh AE, Santibanez-Gonzalez ED, Otaghsara SK (2020) Evaluation of renewable energy resources using integrated Shannon entropy—EDAS model. Sustain Oper Comput 1:35–42

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Lithuanian Centre for Social Sciences, Vilnius, Lithuania

    Virginia Namiotko, Aiste Galnaityte, Irena Krisciukaitiene & Tomas Balezentis

Authors
  1. Virginia Namiotko
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Aiste Galnaityte
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. Irena Krisciukaitiene
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. Tomas Balezentis
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Contributions

AG and IK prepared the Research framework. VN wrote the inital draft. TB revised the initial draft. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Tomas Balezentis.

Ethics declarations

Ethics approval and consent to participate

Not applicable.

Consent for publication

Not applicable.

Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Additional information

Responsible Editor: Philippe Garrigues

Publisher's Note

Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Namiotko, V., Galnaityte, A., Krisciukaitiene, I. et al. Assessment of agri-environmental situation in selected EU countries: a multi-criteria decision-making approach for sustainable agricultural development. Environ Sci Pollut Res 29, 25556–25567 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17655-4

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-021-17655-4

Keywords

Search

Navigation