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SALBES
Scenarios for Agricultural Landscapes’ Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services
European agricultural landscapes are undergoing profound changes, but no schemes exist to identify landscape specific ecological infrastructures and adapted crop management which are needed to safeguard biodiversity and ESS, and the respective adaptability to changes.
The aim of the project is to develop a comprehensive protocol, with a focus on the agricultural systems, to develop and characterise the potential and impact of conservation strategies. The guiding principle is the “safe operating space” for development, here specified and advanced for agricultural landscapes. This includes an expanded definition of green infrastructure, adaptive land management, and stakeholder involvements. A coherent set of economic and ecological models will be combined to design scenarios, in close cooperation with stakeholders, integrating various spatial scales, e.g. from field to landscape. To support appropriate policies fostering an integrated landscape development, the project will develop guidelines and platforms to include regional biodiversity and ESS objectives into policy support schemes at national and international levels. Case study areas in four European countries will be used. The primary focus is on stakeholder initiatives which have begun implementing biodiversity and ESS conservation schemes into the agricultural production processes.