A newly published article in the Land Use Policy journal investigates ways for the implementation of agri-environmental schemes (AES) to foster sustainable farming practices that can contribute to the conservation of biodiversity, ecosystem services, climate change mitigation and adaptation. 

Leading specialists in this area, amongst whom BESTMAP partners - Anne Paulus, Michael Beckmann (UFZ), Stephanie Roilo & Anna Cord (TUD), are authors of this paper. They conducted the study by combining biophysical maps with information on farm structure and landscape context to model the influence of environmental variables on AES implementation at both farm and field level.

Photo: Top left: MRB case study area in Europe; Center: map of AES adoption in the study area in 2019; top right inset of the data.

Through their analysis, the authors conclude that there is a quantifiable tendency to place agri-environmental schemes in unproductive and/or protected areas. Also, their study supports previous evidence, criticising the global tendency to allocate environmental protection measures in regions with low agricultural value, which results in conservation goals not being met.

One of the scientists’ suggestions is to develop schemes tailored to fit farms and fields that are currently unlikely to adopt AES, thus improving the effectiveness of environmentally friendly agricultural practices.

You can read the full article here.