Intensive farming ‘is biggest threat’ to European birds
Intensive agriculture is driving more of the decline in European bird numbers than urbanisation or climate change, a study has found.
Across Europe, the population of common bird species has dropped by about a quarter since 1980. Although there have been some significant successes, and falls have been less steep in recent years, this trend mirrors that seen in Britain.
Research strongly suggests that much of this fall has been a consequence of the use of pesticides and fertilisers, along with other practices linked to intensive farming.
The study looked at 170 bird species in 28 countries and attempted to establish the different factors affecting their population by correlating this with statistics on climate change, land use changes and farming practices.
According to the calculations
