Towards sustainable land use: identifying and managing the conflicts between human activities and biodiversity conservation in Europe

Young, Juliette; Watt, Allan D.; Nowicki, Peter; Alard, Didier; Clitherow, Jeremy; Henle, Klaus; Johnson, Richard K.; Laczkó, Endre; McCracken, David I.; Matouch, S.; Niemelä, Jari; Richards, Caspian

doi:10.1007/s10531-004-0536-z

Cited by 267 publications

(171 citation statements)

References 58 publications

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“…Central and Eastern European countries managed to preserve and sustain large areas of extensive farming and semi-natural habitats and brought biodiversity rich areas under European Union (EU) legislation when joining the EU in 2004 (Henle et al 2008, Stoate et al 2009, Young et al 2005. As socio-political transformations are especially critical periods for biodiversity conservation -as seen for example in a Romania by Ioras (2003), the stakes in the conservation arena in these countries are high.…”

Section: Hungarian Priorities In a Wider Policy Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging the research-practice gap: Conservation research priorities in a Central and Eastern European country

Mihók

Kovács

Balázs

et al. 2015

Journal for Nature Conservation

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Halting biodiversity loss is a critical aim for the forthcoming decades, but is hindered by the gap between research and practice. Bridging this gap is a significant challenge in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, where, compared to Western European countries, biodiversity is higher but the research budget is lower. Approaches to address bridging this gap include participatory research prioritizing exercises. These demand-driven collaborative ranking processes have proven to be a useful tool in providing a research agenda derived from a review of critical challenges based on stakeholder engagement. However, for research agendas to be effectively realized, they are best developed and implemented at the operative level of research financing and implementation. This paper shows the process and the outcome of an exercise conducted in Hungary aiming to compile the most important conservation research questions at the country-level and outlines a set of further measures and tools required for dissemination and advocacy for the research agenda. During the process 792 research questions were collated from conservation practitioners and natural resource managers based on interviews and via an online questionnaire; the final 50 most important questions were identified by practitioners and policy makers during an expert workshop. Questions are embedded in global and EU biodiversity targets and imply a pragmatic approach with the aim of identifying research that supports policy-and decision-making regarding habitat management, landuse and regional development, while also focussing on conflicting issues. The outcome of the process includes the potential for lobbying, therefore post-publication activities and dissemination strategies are outlined as an integrated part of the exercise.

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Section: Hungarian Priorities In a Wider Policy Contextmentioning

confidence: 99%

Bridging the research-practice gap: Conservation research priorities in a Central and Eastern European country

Mihók

Kovács

Balázs

et al. 2015

Journal for Nature Conservation

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“…Across Europe too, changes in agriculture are leading to farmland abandonment to varying degrees (Young et al, 2005;Keenleyside and Tucker, 2010;Rewilding Europe, 2012;Habel et al, 2013;Wild10, 2013). Whilst Keenleyside and Tucker (2010) note that the trend is strongest in parts of Southern and Eastern Europe, and that the threat of farmland abandonment is generally weaker in Northern and Western European countries such as the UK, they also note that semi-natural and extensive grassland landscapes are particularly at risk of abandonment.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The threat of abandonment in socio-ecological landscapes: Farmers’ motivations and perspectives on high nature value grassland conservation

McGinlay

Gowing

Budds

2017

Environmental Science & Policy

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Future sustainability of the conservation management of socio-ecological landscapes is typically reliant on on-going agricultural management. Such management may be threatened by changes in the drivers of management and the fragility of the stakeholder networks that deliver management. This study examined evidence for the risk of abandonment in a series of case study high nature value (HNV) grassland sites. The work found that the motivation of farmers to participate in the conservation management was typically limited and often marginal. Landowners and conservation stakeholders who relied on partner farmers to manage such sites often struggled to recruit and retain their help, leading to intermittent turnover in managing farmers and to some sites being under-managed. A trend towards greater financial incentivisation of farmers was evident, which policy-makers responsible for agri-environment schemes should note, and elsewhere some conservation organisations were seen to be bringing grassland management in-house. Primary reasons for farmer turnover and difficulty of recruitment included a lack of candidate farmers in the local landscape, and the marginal and fluctuating economics of grassland management. Farmers' motivations to participate in conservation management of such systems may continue to weaken and abandonment may therefore become a significant risk to the successful conservation of such systems. Conservation stakeholders need to foster good relations with their farmer-manager partners and not further depress their limited motivations to participate, as well as consider carefully whether farmer stakeholders are being adequately compensated for their efforts. Highlights Abandonment is a key risk to the management of some socio-ecological landscapes  Risks result from the difficulty in recruiting and retaining managing farmers  Farmers' motivations to participate are limited by marginal economic benefits  Trend towards increased financial incentivisation of farmers to improve retention

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“…In combination, these practices are closely associated with the notion of high nature value (HNV) farming, and provide a wide range of ecosystem services (Bignal & McCracken 1996;Paracchini et al 2007). Notably, they have maintained a rich farmland biodiversity (Clark 2006), much of which has severely declined in Western Europe as a result of agricultural intensification (Poschlod et al 2005;Young et al 2005). Given the high nature value of much of Romania's farmland, agricultural policy and biodiversity conservation are inextricably linked.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Integrating rural development and biodiversity conservation in Central Romania

et al. 2013

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SUMMARYUnlike most parts of the European Union (EU), Southern Transylvania (Central Romania) is characterized by an exceptionally high level of farmland biodiversity. This results from traditional small-scale farming methods that have maintained extensive areas of high nature value farmland. Following the post-socialist transition, Southern Transylvania faces serious challenges such as under-employment and rural population decline, which put traditional farming at risk. With Romania's accession to the EU in 2007, Southern Transylvania became part of a complex multi-level governance system that in principle provides mechanisms to balance biodiversity conservation and rural development. To this end, the most important instruments are the 'Natura 2000' network of protected areas and EU rural development policy. Structured questionnaires and semi-structured interviews with town hall representatives from 30 villages in Southern Transylvania and local EU experts revealed that EU policies are often poorly aligned with local conditions. To date, the implementation of EU rural development policy is strongly focused on economic development, with biodiversity conservation being of little concern. Moreover, relevant EU funding opportunities are poorly communicated. Bridging organizations should be strengthened to foster the implementation of a rural development strategy that integrates local needs and biodiversity conservation.

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Towards sustainable land use: identifying and managing the conflicts between human activities and biodiversity conservation in Europe

Cited by 267 publications

References 58 publications

Bridging the research-practice gap: Conservation research priorities in a Central and Eastern European country

Bridging the research-practice gap: Conservation research priorities in a Central and Eastern European country

The threat of abandonment in socio-ecological landscapes: Farmers’ motivations and perspectives on high nature value grassland conservation

Integrating rural development and biodiversity conservation in Central Romania

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