“In Hungary, every single day is ‘Earth Day’, because the word simultaneously means the planet, our native land and the source of subsistence: farmland and mother earth, our homeland” Minister of State for Agricultural Economy György Czerván said on Friday at an event to mark Earth Day in Farmos, Central Hungary.

At the event held in front of the House of Littoral Life, Mr. Czerván said that the European Union’s Common Agricultural Policy has also become centred on environmental protection and conservation has also, and accordingly EU leaders have decided that a certain percentage of direct agricultural funding must be specifically spent on agricultural practices that have a favourable effect on the climate and the environment. He also spoke about the fact that Hungarian production traditions rooted in land management, and agriculture-related festivities and folk traditions have been forming the landscape of Hungary’s regions for centuries.

In his speech, Minister of State for Environmental Affairs, Agricultural Development and Hungaricums Zsolt V. Németh said that the goal of the Earth Day event was to draw attention to a more caring way of life in which protecting natural treasures and recycling waste does not remain a theory and idea formulated behind a desk. Because what is at stake is a more liveable and sustainable world, and that means a lot: the guarantor of our future and the future of our descendants.

The Minister of State pointed out that aquatic habitats are the first to indicate changes in the environment, citing as an example the fact that the animal and plant populations of aquatic habitats have fallen by a third since the 1970s. According to the Minister of State, Hungary is spending more and more on environmental protection, explaining that the budget for this purpose was 2300 billion forints (EUR 7.4bn) during the previous EU programming period, while the budget for the environment and conservation is 2800 billion forints (EUR 9bn) in the current period. Including the budget for the greening of agriculture, the final total is some 3400 billion forints (EUR 10.9bn), he added.

Following the official opening of the Earth Day Event, Ministers of State Zsolt V. Németh and György Czerván presented Pro Natura awards and ministerial certificates. The Hungarian Landscape Award was presented to the Local Municipality of Mátraderecske for the results achieved within the framework of its “Ancient Power of Palóc Country landscape development community model program for a liveable village” tender.

(MTI/Ministry of Agriculture Press Office)