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LIST OF BIODIVERSITY INDICATORS FOR AGRICULTURAL ECOSYSTEMS REFERRED TO IN ARTICLE 11(2)

Indicator Description, units, and methodology for determining and monitoring the indicator Grassland butterfly index Description: This indicator is composed of species considered to be characteristic of European grasslands and which occur in a large part of Europe, covered by the majority of the Butterfly Monitoring Schemes. It is based on the geometric mean of species trends. Unit: Index. Methodology: as developed and used by Butterfly Conservation Europe, Van Swaay, C.A.M, Assessing Butterflies in Europe - Butterfly Indicators 1990-2018, Technical report, Butterfly Conservation Europe, 2020. Stock of organic carbon in cropland mineral soils Description: This indicator describes the stock of organic carbon in cropland mineral soils at a depth of 0 to 30 cm. Unit: Tonnes of organic carbon/ha. Methodology: as set out in Annex V to Regulation (EU) 2018/1999 in accordance with the 2006 IPCC Guidelines for National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, and as supported by the Land Use and Coverage Area frame Survey (LUCAS) Soil, Jones A. et al., LUCAS Soil 2022, JRC technical report, Publications Office of the European Union, 2021. Share of agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features Description: High-diversity landscape features, such as buffer strips, hedgerows, individual or groups of trees, tree rows, field margins, patches, ditches, streams, small wetlands, terraces, cairns, stonewalls, small ponds and cultural features, are elements of permanent natural or semi-natural vegetation present in an agricultural context which provide ecosystem services and support for biodiversity. In order to do so, landscape features need to be subject to as little negative external disturbances as possible to provide safe habitats for various taxa, and therefore need to comply with the following conditions:

(a) they cannot be under productive agricultural use (including grazing or fodder production), unless such use is necessary for the preservation of biodiversity; and (b) they should not receive fertilizer or pesticide treatment, except for low input treatment with solid manure. Land lying fallow, including temporarily, can be considered as high diversity landscape features if it complies with criteria set out under (a) and (b) of the second paragraph. Productive trees part of sustainable agroforestry systems or trees in extensive old orchards on permanent grassland and productive elements in hedges can also be considered as high diversity landscape features, if they comply with criterion set out under (b) of the second paragraph, and if harvests take place only at moments where it would not compromise high biodiversity levels. Unit: Percent (share of Utilised Agricultural Area). Methodology: as developed under indicator I.21, Annex I to Regulation (EU) 2021/2115, as based on latest updated version of LUCAS for landscape elements, Ballin M. et al., Redesign sample for Land Use/Cover Area frame Survey (LUCAS), Eurostat 2018, and for land laying fallow, Farm Structure, Reference Metadata in Single Integrated Metadata Structure, online publication, Eurostat and, where applicable, for high diversity landscape features not covered by the methodology above, methodology developed by Member States in accordance with Article 14(7) of this Regulation. The LUCAS methodology is updated on a regular basis to enhance the reliability of the data used in the Union and, at national level, by Member States when implementing their national restoration plans.