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Project

Targeted schemes for increasing agrobiodiversity


Involved Institutes BW Institute of Farm Economics

Agricultural landscape
© Thünen-Institut/Jens Dauber
Agricultural landscape

Development of targeted and efficient schemes to increase biodiversity in agricultural landscapes

MEDIATE deals with the problem of biodiversity decline in intensively managed agricultural regions. It follows a participitary approach in two rural districts of Lower Saxony. Economy, ecology and acceptance are in the focus of the task.

Background and Objective

MEDIATE is concerned with the lack of acceptance and questionable efficiency of agri-environment schemes in strongly economically oriented agricultural settings. It further deals with the question of whether greeening-measures of the Common Agricultural policy (CAP) such as ecological focus areas can alleviate the situation for biodiversity conservation in such areas. The following questions are addressed:

  • How can biodiversity goals become an integral part of land management which is accepted and implemented by land users?
  • Which measures in which form and integration could help stopping the decline of habitats and the species therein in a targeted and efficient way?
  • Which contribution could the greening measures of the CAP make in such a process?

Target Group

Land users, agricultural advisors, agri-environmental policy, agronomy, agroecology

Approach

An essential applied component of MEDIATE is the development of feasible measures and their on-farm implementation in agricultural and economic processes.

Study region are two neighbouring rural districts, Nienburg and Diepholz. Agricultural land use of the region is characterized by a high proportion of meat production and the associated cultivation of fodder crops as well as a considerable productive capacity of cash and specialized crops. In addition biomass feedstock for energy purposes is produced. Overall, agricultural production in the region is highly intensified.

To develop, implement and test measures targeted at the regional peculiarities, an early stakeholder involvement, including local farmers and nature conservationsits, is envisaged. The research in MEDIATE, accompanying the implementation of both state-of-the-art and innovative measures, covers economic, agroecological, landscape ecological and nature conservation perspectives. 

Results

Involved external Thünen-Partners

Funding Body

  • German Federal Environmental Foundation (DBU)
    (national, öffentlich)

Duration

1.2016 - 8.2021

More Information

Project funding number: 32873/01
Project status: finished

Publications to the project

  1. 0

    Wietzke A, Waveren C-S van, Bergmeier E, Meyer S, Leuschner C (2020) Current state and drivers of arable plant diversity in conventionally managed farmland in Northwest Germany. Diversity 12(12):469, DOI:10.3390/d12120469

    https://literatur.thuenen.de/digbib_extern/dn063094.pdf

  2. 1

    Dauber J, Dieker P, Nürnberger F (2019) Das Aktionsprogramm Insektenschutz aus Sicht der agrarökologischen Forschung. In: GfÖ 2019 : Science meets practice ; 49th Annual Meeting of the Ecological Society of Germany, Austria and Switzerland ; University of Münster, 9 - 13 September 2019 ; book of abstracts. Berlin: Gesellschaft für Ökologie, p 182

  3. 2

    Stupak N, Sanders J, Heinrich B (2019) The role of farmers' understanding of nature in shaping their uptake of nature protection measures. Ecol Econ 157:301-311, DOI:10.1016/j.ecolecon.2018.11.022

  4. 3

    Dauber J, Brandt K, Everwand G, Kulow J, Mecke S, Schulz K, Waveren C-S van, Klimek S (2018) Innovative farming systems in landscapes under change - a plea for a long-term system approach. In: Book of abstracts: Landscape 2018, 12–16 March 2018, Berlin, Germany, Adlershof con.vent. pp 263-264

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