LIFE Viva Grass recommendations on ecosystem-based planning and grassland management
Laen...
Kuupäev
2019
Kättesaadavus
Ajakirja pealkiri
Ajakirja ISSN
Köite pealkiri
Kirjastaja
Baltic Environmental Forum
Abstrakt
Grasslands are among the most biologically diverse ecosystems in the world, providing a
wide range of the ecosystem services essential for human welfare, e.g. biomass production for
grazing animals, carbon storage, flood reduction, erosion prevention, water infiltration and
purification, habitats for pollinators and protected species, etc. At the same time, semi-natural
grasslands are among the most threatened habitat types in Europe – a substantial decrease in
area and connectivity has been observed since the mid-20th century and the quality of the
grassland habitats continues to deteriorate. This is also the case in the Baltic States, where the
unfavourable conservation status of the semi-natural habitats has been confirmed by the last
report of the Member States to the European Commission under the Article 17 requirements
of the Habitats Directive.
The policy analysis, carried out within the LIFE Viva Grass project, confirms that the EU
Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) is the strongest driver for the change in land use in the
Baltic States, as well as the most influential policy instrument determining the grassland
management practices and thus impacting the status of grassland ecosystems and services
they provide. The financial contribution of CAP for the measures to support biodiversity
maintenance is considerably higher compared to other financial mechanisms financing
nature conservation. CAP and the national Rural Development Programmes (RDP) in the
Baltic States support measures for maintaining grasslands and have thus minimised the
trend of grassland abandonment. However, the assessment of the status of semi-natural
grasslands indicates that the implementation of the RDP measures has not been efficient
in halting the decline of grassland quality and thus also many of the ecosystem services
provided by grasslands. The drawbacks of the rural support policy are related to rather
superficial conditions for implementation of the agri-environmental measures as well as
a non-motivating support policy, which is targeted more towards agriculture production,
disregarding the public benefits resulting from ecosystem services provided by grasslands
(e.g. healthy environment, amenities, opportunities for recreation, security etc.).
A nature conservation policy and related financing instruments (including national and EU,
e.g. LIFE + programme) provides support for the restoration of semi-natural grasslands, guidance on suitable management practices, as well as data collection and administration
on distribution and quality of semi-natural grasslands. However, the nature conservation
measures and financial resources are not sufficient for long-term maintenance of grassland
biodiversity, and therefore the CAP support is acknowledged as the main financial instrument
for achieving biodiversity conservation targets. This, however, requires close co-operation
and coordination between the two sectors - agriculture and nature conservation - which so
far has not been achieved in the Baltic States.
The ecosystem service approach offers a holistic view on interactions between nature and
humans, thus providing a suitable framework for policy and decision-makers to address
conflicts and synergies between environmental and socio-economic goals and to balance
different interests. Application of the ecosystem service approach in rural support policy
would facilitate integration of ecological principles into agricultural practice and better
targeting of interventions to areas with suitable agro-ecological conditions, thus increasing
the efficiency and multi-functionality of the measures applied, as well as stimulating synergies
between agricultural production and other ecosystem services. The ecosystem service
approach can also be operationalised through spatial planning practices by defining the land
use priorities based on the ecosystem service supply potential, as well as assessing trade-offs
of different development alternatives. The Viva Grass integrated planning tool is designed to
support application of the ecosystem service approach in land use planning and sustainable
grassland management.
Following the objectives of the LIFE Viva Grass project, as well as the concerns and
opportunities described above, we have developed recommendations on how to: support maintenance of grassland biodiversity and ecosystem services provided by grasslands; foster ecosystem-based planning and land management; promote application of the integrated planning tool into daily processes of public administration at national, regional and municipality level.
Kirjeldus
Märksõnad
meadows, grasslands, ecological networks, planning, ecosystems, ecosystem services, Baltic States