Agri-environmental schemes (AES) have been introduced as part of European Union's (EU) Common Agricultural Policy and are now an important part of this. A methodological approach to analyse the policy effects of AES is outlined, in which we distinguish between performance effects (on agricultural practices) and outcome effects (environmental impact). The performance effects are further approached including measurement of improvement and protection effects based on 12 indicators on changes/maintenance of land use and agricultural management. Data from personal interviews of participating and non-participating farmers in AES measures in nine EU Member States and Switzerland were used to analyse policy effects, including single indicator effects on agricultural practices as well as combined effects at the agreement level. Significant effects were found for mineral N-fertiliser use, stocking density reduction, maintenance of a minimum livestock density and pesticides. For AES agreements regulating grassland management, fertiliser use and pesticides, clear indications of combined improvement and protection effects were found. In addition clear improvement effects of agreements regulating fertiliser and pesticides use on mainly arable lands were revealed. It is concluded that the approach presented including the 12 selected indicators has proven to be operational.

Environmental effects of agri-environmental schemes in Western Europe

Birds of europe

Large Scale Grazing Systems (LSGS) are much more than large expanses of seminatural vegetation. LSGS are complex structures emerging from the interaction of human behaviour and natural resources. Man-made and nature laws are intertwined in systems of grassland management to produce large-scale effects. LSGS actually harbour a significant part of European natural values, but are also places where a small part of the rural population strives to make a living under harsh environmental and social conditions. This research is aimed at responding to what is left behind under current trend (abandonment). We have dealt with identification, analysis and diagnosis, but not with prescription. Our main argument is that extensive grazing is congenial with natural values, but is the former that gives way to the latter. This assumption was
tested for the main LSGS of three Mediterranean countries of the European Union (EU): Spain, Italy, and Greece. Survey tools (fact-sheets, survey guidelines and
sustainability questionnaires) were devised within the EU-funded LACOPE project and further, groups of external experts, within the three countries, were requested for
collaboration. This research encompasses two parts. In the Presentation section, the most representative LSGS in Spain, Italy and Greece were identified and a comparative
typology elaborated based on individual profiles for external experts. The Successional Trajectories and Target Vegetation types sections are devoted to the relationships
between grazing and biodiversity, as assessed by plant species richness and vegetation types. In this case, external experts' contribution, literature review and further cooperative and interdisciplinary job were used. We detected general patterns of shrubby overgrowth on grazing cessation, increasing species richness with extensive grazing and plant species adapted to grazing or post-grazing succession. The relationship between
grazing and biodiversity was not univocal, and spatial and temporal management of grazing play a major role. It must be stressed the importance of adequate knowledge
of the species and habitat specific impacts of grazing regimes (temporality and grazing intensity). LSGS in the three countries face some common threats from intensification in the lowlands to abandonment in the far-reaching and less favoured grazing grounds.
Harsh workings conditions, social fragility, lacks of assurance of family business turn over, and poor economic performance, are common drivers of change, under a global
setting of economic development. However, differential diagnosis of these constraints and alternative management practices (prescription) at the regional level are further
required in devising and implementing sensible grazing management plans and policy frameworks.

Grazing systems and biodiversity in mediterranean áreas: spain, italy and greece

Atlantic heaths are semi-natural habitats of high biodiversity interest which once covered large areas of the Atlantic Region. Nowadays these heathlands are dramatically reduced in many countries although they still cover wide areas in the north-west Iberian Peninsula, especially in the poorest and most socially marginal areas that are frequently affected by wildfires. We review the role of livestock grazing as a sustainable management strategy for heathlands in Europe. We have worked on a generalized conceptual framework for the management of a resource of nutritional and environmental value by drawing together evidence from studies of the livestock and the community ecology of grazed plants and the associated fauna. Key factors that influence grazing impact, such as type of livestock (animal species and breed) and their management are discussed. Goats thrive better than sheep, and horses than cattle, when heathland vegetation is the predominant resource available. Regardless of the type of livestock species managed, the low nutritive value of this vegetation hinders the maintenance of productive groups of suckler dams with offspring through the grazing season. The nutritional requirements of livestock can be met by adding improved pasture areas to heathlands. Under that strategy, sheep have the best productive performance and cattle the poorest. Management of mixed flocks with goats can lead to a more efficient use of vegetation, improve productivity and develop a patchier habitat which supports a richer associated fauna. Overall the results indicate that the sustainability of livestock grazing in these marginal lands will be achieved if they are managed effectively according to the available vegetation and their effects on the biodiversity.

Grazing land management and biodiversity in the Atlantic European heathlands: a review

Characterisation of farmers' responses to policy reforms in Scottish hill farming areas

European biodiversity significantly depends on large‐scale livestock systems with low input levels. In most countries forms of grazing are organized in permanent or seasonal cooperations (land‐owner/land‐user agents) and covers different landscape such as alpine areas, forest, grasslands, mires, and even arable land. Today, the existence of these structures is threatened due to changes in agricultural land use practices and erratic governmental policies. The present chapter investigates six low‐input livestock systems of grassland management with varying degrees of arrangements in different European countries and landscapes. These large‐scale grazing systems (LSGS) are reindeer husbandry in Northern Sapmi (Fennoscandia), sheep grazing in the Polish Tatra mountains, cattle grazing in the Swiss and German Alps, cattle, sheep, and pig grazing in Baixo Alentejo, Southern Portugal, and sedentary sheep grazing in Central Spain. These systems showed very heterogeneous organizational patterns in their way of exploiting the pastoral resources. At the same time, these LSGS showed at least some of the following weaknesses such as poor economic performance, social fragility, and structural shortcomings for proper grazing management. Lack of proper mobility of herds/flocks or accession to specific grazing grounds can be a cause of environmental hazards. The surveyed LSGS are mostly dependent on public handouts for survival, but successive policy schemes have only showed mixed effects and, in particular study areas, clear inconsistencies in their aim to stop the general declining trend of LSGS. This research assumed that detailed system research may open the way for better‐focused policy intervention, but policymakers need to take advantage of this period of support to push ahead for reforms. Recent European Union (EU) guidelines (2007–2013) on Rural Development Policy (RDP) and its operative scale of high nature value (HNV) farmland can easily fit the structure and functions of low‐input grazing systems and LSGS.

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Comparative Typology in Six European Low‐Intensity Systems of Grassland Management

The framework proposed in this paper results from a research conducted in the Lacope project1 and particularly, the field study of the extensive grazing systems of the Baixo Alentejo – southern Portugal2. This paper constitutes an attempt to enlarge this perspective in order to respond to different typologies of extensive grazing systems that could cover most of the existing pastoral systems3. Nevertheless, we are aware that the proposed framework could fit better some systems than others, and it certainly demands further development and precision when used to study concrete situations, looking for enrichment from subsequent contributions. In addition we want to underline that the aim of this framework goes well beyond the scope of a simple academic enquiry, since we are convinced that it could be a useful tool not only to understand what is at stake but also to inform policies needed to assure the sustainability of the most fragile of these systems. Furthermore, the proposed framework also seeks to highlight the most relevant interactions between aspects that are addressed by different academic fields that usually do not engage in a permanent dialogue, even when they do not completely ignore each other. In section 2 we will provide a description of the methodology, namely the typology of the grazing systems. In section 3 we will focus on the proposed framework relying on a systems approach. Finally some concluding remarks will be made in section 4.

Inocencio Seita Coelho

Papers

Comparative Typology in Six European Low‐Intensity Systems of Grassland Management

Determinants of change on extensive livestock systems: a theoretical framework.

A silvopastoricia na prevenção dos fogos rurais