CORDIS

The relevance and purpose of this project proposal relates to the implementation of the European IPPC Directive (Council Directive 96/61/EC on Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control of 24 September 1996). The purpose of the Directive is to achieve integrated systems of prevention of polluting emissions to air, land and water, including measures concerning waste, in order to achieve a high level of protection of the environment taken as a whole. One crucial sector is livestock agriculture due to its very large impact on the wider environment. The objective of this proposal is to develop an integrated and specific method for the classification of livestock housing systems, and of the storage, treatment and spreading of manure produced, in terms of "Best Available Techniques". This will include the development and application of set procedures to evaluate the environmental and economic performance of different methodologies as well as the assessment of animal health and welfare implications that are specific for the intensive livestock farming sector. The project consists of three main phases: (1) the establishment and update of data on production systems and techniques in intensive livestock farming in use in Europe, (2) the development of a documentation and assessment system for the classification of those techniques identified as "Best Available Technique" and (3) a coordination process with experts from the livestock farming sector, included in the project as "Advisory Group" in order to achieve a widespread awareness and acceptance of the outputs and findings from the project. The developed system will be made widely available in form of guidelines to all stakeholders working with BAT definition and it will greatly assist in their work by providing a common platform and a harmonized and consistent approach for description and assessment of the livestock systems.