high nature value farmland and traditional agricultural landscapes

More documents

Recommendations

Info

22 | Chapter 2: Paracchini et al. Figure 1. Agriculture and landscape development and the effects on floristic diversity through time (after Stanners and Bordeaux 1995, Vos and Meekes 1999) InTrodUcTIon Agricultural land covers half of Europe’s territory. In the European context the development of farming traditions is strongly interlinked with the development of human culture. People have spread across the continent adapting habits and agricultural practices to local climatic and geographical conditions, and subsequently adapting them for their own subsistence. In such a process plant and animal resources were directly dependent upon human land management, thus they partially evolved under the influence of farming practices, which are part of local culture and knowledge (as was well explained by Publius Virgilius Maro over 2,000 years ago). Throughout the centuries, this led to a rich cultural and natural heritage that was reflected in a wide variety of traditional agricultural landscapes, most of which preserved their traditional character until the Industrial Revolution. Until then farmers derived most of their needs from the immediate surroundings of their farms, usually with a mixed farming system, combining cultivation of crops and livestock rearing. Technological development, mechanisation, agro-chemicals and, more recently, genetic discoveries allowed steadily increasing yields and led to structural changes in farming. Consequently, human influence started to leave a more important footprint in the landscape: in particular radical changes occurred in management practices after World War II. Such processes were accelerated by the entry into force of the Common Agricultural Policy in 1957, whose original objective was to secure food production for the Countries of the EEC in the post-war period. By supporting agricultural production through the provision of subsidies, it was the main driver of technological improvement. The landscape changes that followed were sometimes dramatic (e.g., intensification and simplification of crop rotations in large parts of the European lowlands, considerable loss of semi-natural grasslands and of bocage landscapes), with a consequent change in the distribution and composition of the habitats that characterised the traditional agricultural landscape, which had for centuries maintained a significant part of European biodiversity. The role of cultural influences is evident in this frame: local knowledge and culture are identified among the main characteristics of traditional agri-ecosystems, their richness is the fruit of cultural diversity and it is widely recognised that the analysis of traditional agricultural landscapes should not be carried out separately from the culture that nurtures them (Altieri 1990). Such systems share some common properties: they are characterised by production cycles that receive low inputs, produce relatively low outputs in relation to the carrying capacity of the land, are usually labour intensive and are economically and ecologically sustainable (Pienkowski 2006); they combine a high number of species and structural diversity in time and space, and maintain closed cycles of materials and wastes through effective recycling practices (e.g., use of waste as fertiliser). According to Baldock et al. (1995) they can be Figure 2. Link between High Nature Value farmland and traditional agricultural landscapes Pedroli B, Van Doorn A, De Blust G, Paracchini ML, Wascher D & Bunce F (Eds. 2007). Europe’s living landscapes. Essays on exploring our identity in the countryside. LANDSCAPE EUROPE / KNNV. Figure 3. General relationship between agricultural intensity and biodiversity (source: after Hoogeveen at al 2001 in EEA 2004)
Figure 4a. Trends in farmland birds – (http://www.ebcc.info/pecbm.html) Figure 4b. N-fertiliser input (Source: EEA) categorised into livestock systems, arable and permanent crop systems, and mixed systems. Typical examples include semi-natural grasslands, olive trees and vines under traditional management, traditional orchards, fallow land, wood pastures, and bocage. Management practices also share some common characteristics: the use of terraces (typical of the Mediterranean area) and hedgerows, minimal tillage, mulching, small field sizes and long fallow cycles (Altieri 1990). TradITIonal landscapes, hIGh naTUre ValUe farMland and bIodIVersITy It is only in recent decades that the link between traditional European agricultural landscapes and biodiversity has been investigated and the importance of European agri-biodiversity recognised. The term “High Nature Value farmland” was introduced at the beginning of the 1990s (Baldock et al. 1993, Beaufoy et al. 1994) referring to the low input farming systems associated with high biodiversity. The concept was further developed by Andersen et al. (2003), who coined the definition “areas in Europe where agriculture is a major (usually the dominant) land use and where that agriculture supports, or is associated with, either a high species and habitat diversity or the presence of species of European conservation concern, or both”. Areas of High Nature Value farmland largely overlap with traditional agricultural landscapes, having as common denominator low input farming systems. A more detailed quantification (in spatial and typological terms) of such overlap is hardly feasible, since no comprehensive guide exists of European traditional landscapes (Zimmermann 2006), and currently available descriptions of farming systems maintaining HNV farmland (EEA 2004) are still too crude for this purpose, or only locally available (Paracchini et al. 2007). Furthermore, the link with the cultural elements or traditions that have generated such systems is often only known locally. The high degree of biodiversity that characterises HNV farmland areas was built up over millennia of anthropic land management, during which agri-ecosystems developed in conjunction with human culture. The European Community Action Plan for Biodiversity in Agriculture (2001) identifies three dimensions of agricultural biodiversity: the genetic variety of domesticated plants and animals, wild biodiversity (wild flora and fauna related to farmland) and life support systems (soil organisms, pollinators, predators). The present chapter deals with the second category: wild flora and fauna or wildlife and habitats in the terminology adopted by the Convention on Biological Diversity. Furthermore, a distinction is made between species diversity within the agricultural system and the contribution to overall species diversity at a higher spatial scale, including the effects of agriculture on surrounding natural systems (Hoogeveen 2002). The maintenance of agricultural habitats with high natural value is restricted to a limited range of agricultural inputs (Figure 3), which gives HNV systems a high degree of instability (Plieninger et al. 2006). The Pedroli B, Van Doorn A, De Blust G, Paracchini ML, Wascher D & Bunce F (Eds. 2007). Europe’s living landscapes. Essays on exploring our identity in the countryside. LANDSCAPE EUROPE / KNNV. | 23
Page 1: MarIa lUIsa paracchInI • Jean-MIc
Page 5 and 6: and Central Europe (Birdlife Europe
Page 7 and 8: also classified as HNV farmland whe
Page 9 and 10: zone which are critical for the lon
Page 11 and 12: Figure 17. The map shows the distri
Page 13 and 14: eferences Altieri, M. A. 1990. Why

high nature value farmland and traditional agricultural landscapes

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?