PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
Natural and semi-natural grasslands (NSG) are complex ecosystems that provide a range of ecosystem functions and services, which are essential for maintaining biodiversity and healthy societies in general. Loss of grassland biodiversity leads to the degradation and even total destruction of ecosystem functions and services, which would require enormous financial investments to provide artificially.
Grassland ecosystems, however, are still threatened all across Europe. The area covered by NSG has decreased considerably in Europe over the last century as a result of urbanisation, the intensification of agriculture in the more productive and accessible areas, and marginalisation or land abandonment in more remote areas. With EU accession and the availability of agricultural subsidies the share of managed agricultural land has increased. However, measures within the Rural Development Programmes tend to promote agricultural production and intensive land use rather than extensive, nature-friendly management practices. Although agri-environmental measures of the RDP help maintain valuable ecosystems, they must be more area specific. Furthermore, only economically viable management practices are sustainable in the longer term. It is, therefore, important to move from subsidy-based grassland management towards economically viable and area-specific management models for the multifunctional use of grasslands.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE Viva Grass project aimed to contribute to the improvement of land use and nature conservation policies and to the legal framework for the long-term maintenance of grassland biodiversity and the ecosystem services they provide. It would achieve this aim by encouraging an ecosystem-based approach to planning and by promoting economically viable grassland management. The project would demonstrate opportunities for the multifunctional use of grasslands as a basis for strengthening the sustainability of rural areas and as a stimulus for local economies.
Specific objectives included:
- Policy assessment and evaluation of experiences in maintaining grassland ecosystems;
- Development of recommendations for rural development policies and legal systems;
- Integrated, ecosystem based planning solutions for strategic planning processes and the implementation of sustainable grassland management;
- Establishment of an active stakeholder network for the implementation of demonstration actions;
- Development of integrated planning tool for sustainable grassland management, which allows for the compiling of spatial data layers on grassland ecosystems, demonstrates its causal relationship with social-economic data, and generates sustainable grassland management scenarios;
- Demonstration of ecosystem based solutions for planning and viable grassland management in nine case study areas at regional, municipality, farm and protected area level;
- Monitoring of the environmental and socioeconomic impacts of the demonstration activities; and
- Drawing up of capacity building programmes and the implementation of training courses on the application of the integrated planning tool by relevant stakeholders.
RESULTS
LIFE Viva Grass supported the maintenance of biodiversity and ecosystem services provided by grasslands, through the development of an integrated planning tool that encourages the ecosystem-based approach for planning and grassland management.
The project team demonstrated the multi-functional use of grasslands, as a basis for sustainability of remote rural areas and as stimulus for local economies, in 9 pilot areas scattered throughout three Baltic countries: Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.
The Integrated Planning Tool for sustainable grassland management was developed as a key contribution to strategic rural planning processes. It integrates ecological and socio-economic data and context into decision-making on different management practice levels: county, municipality, protected area, and farm. The project resulted in recommendations for an optimised policy to stimulate long-term maintenance of grassland biodiversity and ecosystem services in the three Baltic countries.
At the end of the project, pre-conditions for sustainable grassland management were established through the restoration of abandoned grasslands, and the re-establishment of active management in the total area of 153 ha. The project team also ensured maintenance of alvar habitat and traditional landscapes on 180 ha.
The project beneficiaries trained almost 480 people on the application of the Integrated Planning Tool, and directly informed about 3 000 people about grassland ecosystem services and solutions for their maintenance. These actions thus raised awareness and capacity of planners and local stakeholders concerning economically-viable approaches to management of grassland ecosystems and the multiple services they provide.
Further information on the project can be found in the project's layman report (see "Read more" section).
