Fine-scale mapping of High Nature Value farmlands: novel approaches to improve the management of rural biodiversity and ecosystem services
High Nature Value farmlands (HNVf) are defined as rural lands characterized by high levels of biodiversity and extensive farming practices. These farmlands are also known to provide important ecosystems services, such as food production, pollination, water purification and landscape recreation. Recently, this concept has been introduced in Rural Development Programmes related to biodiversity preservation in traditional agricultural landscapes. However, there are no specific rules concerning the practical use of the concept, particularly on the identification of potential HNVf areas at a local scale. However, this application becomes important for farmland biodiversity protection in the context of multi-scale agricultural development. We present a novel approach for HNVf mapping, which provides an improved local discrimination of farmlands according to their contribution for the conservation of rural biodiversity and ecosystem services. Our approach is based on a multi-criteria valuation of habitat types based on the national land cover map and agrarian censuses. It is onsidered applicable in other EU countries since comparable datasets are usually available. This methodology is also expected to provide the backbone of a standard, cost-effective methodology for HNVf monitoring, with an emphasis on the impacts of land use change on species, habitats and landscape function.
| Main Authors: | , , , |
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| Format: | Article in monograph or in proceedings biblioteca |
| Language: | English |
| Subjects: | Life Science, |
| Online Access: | https://research.wur.nl/en/publications/fine-scale-mapping-of-high-nature-value-farmlands-novel-approache |
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