lessons from home and abroad Gwyn Jones European Forum on Nature - PowerPoint PPT Presentation

High Nature Value Farming: lessons from home and abroad Gwyn Jones European Forum on Nature Conservation and Pastoralism gwyn@efncp.org

Examples of where we can learn from others: • Need to identify all relevant land, so can target payments • Need to link inventories to IACS/LPIS • Workable monitoring system • Local project-based approach with output-linked payments, integrated in CAP

HNV farmland is about more than designated sites and priority habitats Farmland Semi-natural farmland and features Annex 1 farmland habitats Natura 2000

Natural England draft map of HNV farmland - based on inventories of priority semi-natural habitats + suites of farmland species.

Need to capture wider matrix to get both ecological and agricultural context BAP priority habitats inventory

• Natural England did local HNV mapping using aerial photos to capture the wider ‘landscape matrix’, building on inventoried habitats and County Wildlife Sites. • Field survey in Culm parishes showed the technique is robust.

Devon project draft (semi- natural) HNV map BAP Priority Habitats map

Extent of HNV farmland and % designated Total HNVF as % % HNVF % HNVF % HNVF extent of study covered by covered by covered by of study area SAC SSSI County area ha Sites Blackdown 36,860 11 0.1 10 47 Hills Culm 40,628 16 8.5 11 17 South 33,700 20 4 10 47 Devon

HNVF in agri-environment schemes % of all land % of HNV % HNV % of HNV in AES farmland in farmland in farmland in (current and AES (current current “classic” schemes classic and classic Higher Level schemes) schemes) Scheme Blackdown 47.2 46 11.5 13 Hills Culm 67.5 61 18 17 South Devon 66 70 19 26

National semi-natural grassland inventories

Habitat Inventory of Wales – lowland example

Habitat Inventory of Wales – lowland example

LPIS-IACS is probably the key to effective targeting, protection and monitoring of HNV farmland Bulgarian example

HNV farming identification and monitoring in Navarra Identification from inventories/ remote sensing On-farm monitoring of features most sensitive to change

Scotland is making a serious effort…. Type 1: Farmland with a • Good attempts at high proportion of identification; interesting semi-natural vegetation approach to monitoring • English work stopped? LCM 2000 classification • Welsh work?? Combined with UAA • Nothing in N. Ireland?

2010-13 2004-09 Art. 68 www.Irishviews.com

This is a PILLAR 1 scheme!!! ….designed by and embraced by FARMERS! www.Irishviews.com

Messages • HNV farmland is more than designated sites, but provides the context for many of them… – Scheme targeting needs to be more ecologically-meaningful in some areas • Need to take HNV farmland identification more seriously – Inventories of semi-natural pastures and meadows are key, but Countryside Survey is a big step down that road • Need to take HNV farmland monitoring more seriously – but Countryside Survey approach has inspired others already! • To make things work efficiently, need to link to IACS/LPIS – some of the EU’s poorest countries are doing it! • Local projects can be innovative, build trust, enable real collaboration, be output-linked

Thank you! www.efncp.org