March 31, 2016
On birds, agriculture, and European policy, a conversation with Trees Robijns
Trees Robijns
BirdLife Europe
Lucila Fernandez
The Common Agricultural Policy is one of the founding laws of the European Union. While it’s succeeded in feeding the European populace, what has been its impact on biodiversity? Since World War II, the Common Agricultural Policy is the prevailing legislation on how to manage farmlands in Europe. Originally, the policy was written to ensure […] ...
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July 6, 2015
The Value of Multifunctional Agriculture: a case study in northern Europe
Alberto Bernues
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
In some of the most biodiverse regions of the world, people have farmed for centuries, shaping magnificent agricultural landscapes. Multifunctionality recognizes agriculture as a multi-output activity producing not only private (market) goods such as food, feed, or fibre, but also public (nonmarket, non-excludable, non-rival) goods such as agricultural landscapes, farmland biod ...
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December 11, 2014
What is the Socio-Cultural and Economic Value of Mediterranean Mountain Agriculture?
Alberto Bernues
Norwegian University of Life Sciences
Traditional agricultural activities have suffered a notorious recession in recent decades in many Euro-Mediterranean regions. This recession originated in changes in the type and intensity of land utilization, such as intensification of the management system, reduction of grazing and abandonment of remote rangeland areas. Consequently, a general process of vegetation encroachme ...
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September 5, 2014
European Wood-Pastures as Cultural Landscapes
Tobias Plieninger
University of Copenhagen
Tibor Hartel
European landscapes are shaped by long-lasting, intensive and complex interactions between people and nature. This interaction has generated values that are appreciated by society, nowadays called “landscape values” or “ecosystem services,” but many of these cultural landscape values are in decline. Wood-pastures—combinations of grazing lands with scattered trees—ar ...
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