Sustainable Agriculture and Grasslands Working Group

The EUROPARC Sustainable Agriculture and Grasslands Working Group supports the Directorate in EUROPARC’s work on agriculture and grasslands.

The Sustainable Agriculture and Grasslands Working Group

EUROPARC represents the interest and ambitions of Protected Areas at different European political and technical levels, especially through championing the value and benefits of Protected Areas for the society and developing and maintaining partnerships with key institutions.

In Europe agriculture plays a crucial role, not only for human subsistence, but also for biodiversity protection. Agriculture and biodiversity are closely interrelated with a number of habitat types strongly dependent on agricultural practices, while food production requires and benefits from rich biodiversity. This interrelation is particularly evident in Protected Areas where cooperation among the conservation and farming sector can produce mutual benefits for agriculture, biodiversity and the broader services they provide for communities.

Semi-natural grasslands are a valuable example of this interrelation, as their maintenance highly depend on human activity, such as livestock grazing and mowing. Covering 13 % of the EU area (540 507 km2), they are amongst the most valuable habitats on the European continent, providing multiple services such as quality grazing and forage for livestock, biodiversity preservation (including rare and threatened species), water and soil regulation, carbon sequestration, etc.
Yet these habitats and the services they provide, remain under threat also in Protected Areas, mainly due to agricultural intensification and agricultural decline.

EUROPARC is committed to support positive dialogue between the agricultural sector and Protected Area communities. In this context, the EUROPARC Sustainable Agriculture and Grasslands Working Group (SA&G WG) will contribute to address the following strategic objectives of the EUROPARC Strategy to 2030:

• #2 “Strengthen the status of Protected Areas” advocating for sustainable practices to be integrated and valued in European policies, strategies and funding schemes. Further, by building connections and encouraging the exchange of good practices among PAs and the farming sector.
• #3 “Enhance the status of nature on land and sea and people’s connection to it” to raise the expertise of Protected Areas managers and stakeholders on sustainable agriculture practices, with a specific focus on the management and benefits of seminatural grasslands.
• #4 “Promote sustainable development tools and approaches for people and nature” to highlight the concrete benefits of sustainable agriculture – in particular semi-natural grasslands. By reinforcing efforts to maintain them, the WG will contribute addressing the theme “Protected Areas role in climate change mitigation and adaptation”.

Main objectives:

The SA&G WG aims to inform and influence sustainable agriculture and grassland management policies and practices in Europe. For this the WG aims to:

• Provide advice, insights and expertise to the EUROPARC Directorate on sustainable agriculture and seminatural grasslands management in Protected Areas.
• Inform EU policy development with good practices of sustainable agriculture and grassland management in Protected Areas.
• Provide Protected Areas with tools to support the conservation and management of semi-natural grassland farming systems.
• Explore the development of a European wide initiative to value, promote and reward sustainable agriculture in Protected Areas.

More information on this Working Group can be taken from their Terms of Reference, available for download below.

Members

• Chair: Joao Cardoso de Melo, Treasurer at EUROPARC Council; Cascais Ambiente (PT)
• Federico Minozzi, Head of Policy and Project at EUROPARC Federation (IT)
• Ugnė Vilkevičiū, member of EUROPARC Youth Council (LT)
• Florence Moesch, Agriculture Project Officer at French Federation of Natural Regional Parks (FR)
• Marie-Julie Parayre, Agriculture Project Officer at Parc naturel régional du Haut-Languedoc (FR)
• István Szentirmai, Őrség National Park (HU)
• Karoline Zsak, Head of the department for agriculture and landscape management at Nationalpark Donau-Auen (AT)
• Marc Garriga Lujan, Director of Parque Natural do Alt Pirineu (ES)
• Donatella Ciofani, Director of Maremma Regional Park (IT)
• Israel Montiel, Coordinator of the initiative Fet al Parc at Generalitat de Catalunya (ES)
• Michelle Herman, Youth Representative at the EUROPARC Council; Youth Council Member (DE)