High Nature Value farmland: towards more effective conservation and monitoring of biodiversity across European landscapes
Symposium and Round table
Date: 24th September 2015
Location: Rome, Italy
Over recent years there has been increasing convergence between the biodiversity strategy and rural development policies within the EU. The importance of rural landscapes and agro-ecosystems for the conservation of biodiversity has been acknowledged through the High Nature Value farmland (HNVf) concept. Despite efforts at the European and Member State level to accurately and efficiently identify rural landscapes with high nature conservation value, progress has been slow on identifying common indicators for harmonized assessment and reporting. This has constrained the development of effective spatially-explicit approaches towards HNVf mapping and monitoring across hierarchical levels of decision making.
The symposium 'High Nature Value farmland: towards more effective conservation and monitoring of biodiversity across European landscapes', co-organised by the EFNCP, was included within "Ecology at the Interface", a joint Conference of the European Ecological Federation (EEF) and the Italian Society of Ecology which was held in Rome on 21-25 September 2015. This interdisciplinary symposium provided a broad overview of the main challenges for HNVf implementation across the EU (e.g., identification of suitable indicators, data quality issues, spatially-explicit approaches, etc.), and included an exciting and productive discussion regarding the future of HNV farmlands and underlying farming systems in the context of future EU rural development and conservation policies.
Presentations were given by 8 speakers, who shared results and experiences from 5 EU Member States (Scotland, Portugal, France, Germany, and Ireland), as follow:
- S24.1 - Identifying and supporting High Nature Value farming systems: an overview, by Davy McCracken
- S24.2 - Looking back and the way forward: assessing the vulnerability and resilience of High Nature Value farmlands in time, by Angela Lomba
- S24.3 - High Nature Value farming: from indication to conservation, by Sebastian Klimek, Doreen Gabriel, Jens Dauber, Sabrina Jerrentrup, Stefan Mecke, Michael Strohbach
- S24.4 - Supporting HNV farmland conservation: lessons learnt and future needs for science into policy and practice, by James Moran, Pamela Boyle, John Finn, Mike Gormally, Stuart Green, Margaret Hayes, Gwyn Jones, Patrick McGurn, Daire Ó hUallachŕin, Caroline Sullivan
- S24.5 - Development of a nature value index for pastoral farmland - a rapid farm-level assessment, by Pamela Boyle, Margaret Hayes, Michael Gormally, Caroline Sullivan, James Moran
- S24.6 - National distribution and typologies of High Nature Value (HNV) farmland in Ireland and how this can aid targeting, by Caroline Sullivan, John Finn, Shafique Matin, Stuart Green, James Moran
- S24.7 - The map and the territory - findings from the characterization of HNV farming in France, by Xavier Poux
- S24.8 - Challenges in monitoring the High Nature Value of Mediterranean extensive silvo-pastoral farm systems, by Carlos Guerra, Teresa Pinto-Correia, Carla Azeda, Mara Almeida, Sergio Godinho, Nuno Guiomar
The presentations were followed by a round table and discussion focusing on the most relevant questions raised by speakers and audience and possible paths for future sustainability of HNV farmlands.
