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 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 system to characterise the potential of impact and conservation strategies. The guiding principle, and research object 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. To this end 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.
Case study areas in four European countries will represent various settings. The primary focus is on stakeholder initiatives, which have begun implementing biodiversity and ESS conservation schemes into the agricultural production processes. Research activities, including stakeholder input, will analyse the current agricultural production and future options, including adaptations to climatic changes and other driving forces. The results will reveal potentials and limitations on what agriculture can do to maintain the ecological infrastructure within a landscape. This includes various levels, from farms to policy, offering paths to the most efficient implementation of resilient ecological infrastructures.
These model combinations, co-designed by stakeholders, constitute scientific advancements and will cover a variety of biodiversity and ESS of landscape specific importance. Most importantly, the agricultural production systems will be adequately integrated. This approach will be both, scientific advancement and of political interest by identifying goals and actions on the scale of various fields of action to safeguard sustainable development of agricultural landscapes.