Yara Shennan-Farpón’s Post

🌿 This is something for those interested in landscape-level approaches to conservation in European agriculture: Many seem to be unaware of the collective agri-environmental schemes implemented in the Netherlands, although there could be lessons to learn from! 🌾 Since 2016, all agri-environmental schemes in the Netherlands have operated collectively at the landscape level. Regional farming groups collaborate to steward biodiversity and water management. This is different from farming co-ops, which might collaborate to improve productivity or efficiency of agricultural practices and operations. No,this is a landscape-level effort aimed at achieving ecological objectives. 🐦 The biodiversity efforts of these collective AES focus on improving conservation status of 68 target species under the European Birds and Habitats Directives, including fish, amphibians, insects, birds, and mammals across four types of habitat. In water management, the goal is to ensure healthy chemical and ecological status and establish a robust hydrological system. 🌍 Background: The European Union's Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) has implemented agri-environmental schemes (AES) to address environmental degradation. These have often been criticized for their limited ecological effectiveness. To improve their impact a collective landscape-level approach has been suggested, Netherlands is the only country in the EU that has implemented this at scale. 🚜 Farmers contract through BoerenNatuur, a local organization coordinating regional collaborations. This collective approach has proven to be more ecologically effective than previous Dutch schemes, further evaluations are underway. 📚 find interim evaluation of the collective AES from 2021 and recommendations for improvement by Wageningen University & Research here: https://lnkd.in/eUcf7hDU Additional resources: * The Contracts 2.0 project conducted research on different contracting schemes in agriculture (value chain agreements, PES, etc.) in Europe: https://lnkd.in/epv8__C4 including the collective ones from the Netherlands. A leading researcher involved was Katrin Prager (University of Aberdeen)who has worked with and published a lot about collaborative landscape management. Super interesting project led by Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research (ZALF) also showcasing best practices for designing contracts on their project website. * The KOOPERATIV project led by Tobias Plieninger at the University of Göttingen is currently exploring collaborative approaches to landscape-level conservation in agriculture in Germany: https://lnkd.in/eM4x9RC3 #Conservation #LandscapeApproach #AgriEnvironment #Biodiversity Holger Baer Simon Kraemer Philippe Birker Sophia Raithel Louisa Lösing heiner von luepke Raphaele Deau Sven von Vittorelli Martin Lok Fabien Quétier

🌍 Our Center NatCap: The Earth-Economy Modelers (NatCap TEEMs) University of Minnesota and @Natural Capital Insights would like to spotlight the fantastic contributions of our Scientists and Professors, Steve Polasky, Justin Andrew Johnson, Saleh Mamun PhD, MBA, Peter Hawthorne, and Dr. Nfamara K Dampha in Chapter 4 of #IUCN's latest flagship report. Congratulations Juha Siikamäki and team for leading this incredible body of scientific analysis for informing agriculture and conservation strategies. The "Agriculture and Conservation" IUCN Flagship report has been launched! Press release: https://lnkd.in/ds55fxBe Report: https://lnkd.in/dAAGtjAZ Chapter 4 of the latest report highlights how integrated land management can simultaneously achieve biodiversity, food production, and other economic and climate goals. Through efficiency frontier analysis, our work shows that biodiversity gains don't have to come at the expense of food or economic returns. The key takeaway: with better policies and land use practices, we can create synergies that benefit both agriculture and conservation. #SustainableAgriculture #Conservation #ClimateAction #Biodiversity #LandManagement #FoodSecurity Natural Capital Project Institute on the Environment University of Minnesota #NatCap

Grassland Management Study Reveals Key Insights for Biodiversity and Profit Recent research published in 'Communications Earth & Environment' sheds light on the complex relationship between grassland management practices and biodiversity across Germany, revealing significant implications for the agricultural sector. The stud https://lnkd.in/eNa8Vrcz

Grassland Management Study Reveals Key Insights for Biodiversity and Profit Recent research published in 'Communications Earth & Environment' sheds light on the complex relationship between grassland management practices and biodiversity across Germany, revealing significant implications for the agricultural sector. The stud https://lnkd.in/eNa8Vrcz

Irish Biodiversity Week 2024 It’s Irish Biodiversity Week 2024. Ireland aims to grow forest cover to 18% by 2050. This afforestation must be done in tandem with nature. A resilient biodiverse forest benefits the Irish forestry and wood products sector, agriculture and society at large. NXTGENWOOD researchers are investigating the properties and applications of a broad range of wood including native Irish species and other hardwoods. This enhances and safeguards the future potential impact of our research. Wood is sourced via a wide range of primary producers. As examples: Oak - Tannin production [pictured Minu Masliha Conor F.] in collaboration with Jessica De Micco and Ramesh Babu, PMNC Trinity College Dublin. Birch - Sustainable lignin production Muhammad Muddasar Celignis Biomass Lab Maurice N Collins, University of Limerick. Beech - Health applications of beech and other species Uthesh Umapathy Jessica Nayeli Villegas Moreno Michelle Kilcoyne Lokesh Joshi, University of Galway. Eucalyptus and other hardwoods - Energy Ievgen Nedrygailov Anjali Ashokan Prof. Justin Holmes (University College Cork) and construction applications Sumit Sukhbasi Lal, Ph.D, Jack Moore, Prof. MA Morris, Trinity College Dublin. The research is underpinned by life cycle assessment to ensure environmental constraints are respected Maneesh Mediboyina Fionnuala Murphy, BiOrbic, Bioeconomy SFI Research Centre University College Dublin. Input on how the research intersects with regulations and the built environment via Ed Suttie of BUILDING RESEARCH ESTABLISHMENT LIMITED. #biodiversity #bioeconomy #biomaterial #bioprocess #broadleaf #circulareconomy #environment #forest #forestry #irishbioeconomy #sustainability #wood #woodisgood

This Webinar has all the right hashtags to be unmissable: its hard to build a business model through Carbon Forestry, so when you see an entire ecosystem come together to share what works in innovative land strategies, you just have to listen in. Doug Willmore Kalob Williams David Sternlicht Margaret Morales - thank you for sharing your experiences, lessons and insider stories about how to do it right! #carbonforestry #carbonmarkets #landstrategies #sustainability #regenerativeagriculture

📣 The #BioEconomy must stand out at the core of the next European Commission’s work program According to the joint statement of the #ForForest group composed of Finland, Sweden, Austria and Slovenia, a sustainable bioeconomy must be at the core of the next European Commission’s Work Programme. A total of 16 EU Member States have joined the statement to be discussed at the Agriculture and Fisheries Council on Monday 29 April. #Agrifish Maa- ja metsätalousministeriö/Jord- och skogsbruksministeriet/Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry Read more: https://lnkd.in/duJsnkKm The joint statement: https://lnkd.in/d-EcfxEk

The first project we started developing was a grouped REDD+ Cerrado project, a way to offer landowners an alternative to conversion from native vegetation to agricultural land. The issue here is very different from the Amazon: 75% of the deforestation in 2023 took place in areas registered within Brazil’s environmental registry, and is likely legal. This is less command and control, and more a matter of incentives. Unlike the Amazon, where landowners have legal right to deforest 20% of private land, the forest code allows landowners to convert up to 80%. We had the initial interested landowners signing up, and are now picking it up from where we left off and looking for partners to fund and/or have interest in non-binding, pre-purchase agreements to continue this project. Please do reach for a collaboration and let’s #protect this biodiversity hotspot and critical biome - home to 5% of all the animal and plant species on Earth and a reservoir for 14% of Brazil’s freshwater resources - by turning #conservation into a reasonable alternative to landowners. #cerrado #carboncredits #conserve #urihi #meucarbono

A new report by WWF estimates that EU countries could be spending between €34-48bn each year on projects that can end up damaging biodiversity in sectors such as agriculture, forestry and fisheries. The largest proportion of funding comes from the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the EU’s farming-subsidy programme, which accounts for almost one-third of the bloc’s total budget. The subsidies include funds that support “unsustainable” farming, land-use changes, river fragmentation and deforestation, according to the report. It adds that these activities can have knock-on effects on biodiversity, including habitat loss, ecosystem degradation and species extinction. Prof Alan Matthews, a European agricultural policy expert at Trinity College Dublin, says the findings start a “good debate” about measuring these subsidies. The report contains a number of recommendations to put an end to these subsidies, including implementing a legally binding framework to phase out biodiversity-harmful subsidies on both EU and national levels. It's time to choose what we support with public subsidies so that we don't destroy the very thing we are trying to preserve in order to maintain our living ecosystem, and for which we have by far not the necessary means to restore. We urgently need to be consistent. #climateaction #biodiversity

📣 Great news for #nature today! The European Parliament approved the #NatureRestorationLaw to restore at least 20% of the EU's land and sea areas by 2030 and all ecosystems in need of restoration by 2050. To improve #biodiversity in agricultural ecosystems, EU countries will have to make progress in two of the following three indicators: 🦋 the grassland butterfly index 🌳 the share of agricultural land with high-diversity landscape features 🌾 the stock of organic carbon in cropland mineral soil Measures to increase the common farmland bird index must also be taken as birds are good indicators of the overall state of biodiversity. #NatureRestoration #Agriculture #Agroforestry #DigitAF #HorizonEurope #HorizonEU https://lnkd.in/dCwN9VzP