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Implementation of landscape management measures in the agricultural landscape - Results and experiences in Thuringia
Abstract
For seven areas in different natural regions of Thuringia, plans for use and management of the agricultural landscape' (ANPs) were developed from 1991 onwards, comprising 14,500 ha in total, with the aim to implement the proposed ecological and cultural measures as soon as possible. Over the period of 1 1/2 up to 7 1/2 years between production of the ANPs and control of their realisation in April 1999 a spatially differing but significant part of the proposed measures could be implemented. Implementation scope and speed mainly depended on the following factors: Integration of the land users, i.e. farmers, into the planning process, improving acceptance of the planning proposals; reimbursement of costs for the different measures; receptiveness and commitment of farmers and local authorities towards ecological improvements. Results and experiences achieved allow conclusions for effective landscape planning that can be applied to comparable projects.
Today it is generally agreed that agriculture must be environmentally compatible in spite of increasing necessity of rationalization. Environmentally compatibility of agriculture involves not only the intensity of the farmland use, but also the mainteinance or the extension of the share of "ecological priority areas" (EPA) within the rural areas. The EPA are necessary for the stabilisation of water household in the region, for soil conservation, as habitats of wildlife plants and animals and for the landscape aesthetics. The most of "ecological priority areas" are not profitable for the farmers. Therefore some requirements are necessary in order to conserve or extend the share of EPA in the rural areas, especially: the recognition of the share of EPA into the rural areas as an criterion of environmentally compatible agriculture and the payment of all achievements necessary for maintenance, reconstruction or extension of the EPA.
Environmental compatibility in agriculture depends to a great extent on the proportion of ecologically, culturally and provincially valuable areas (OELF) in the form of structural elements and virtually undisturbed habitats in fields. A method is presented which enables the assessment of the proportion of “OELF”, used as a criterion for environmental friendly agriculture. To this end, both comprehensible objectives for the proportion of OELF and methods for giving evidence of the actual proportion of OELF in agrarian spaces are needed.The target proportion of OELF in agrarian spaces for the various natural areas in Thuringia was derived from precise plans concerning the use and care of agrarian spaces, in co-operation with the authorities responsible for agriculture and nature conservation, and made available to the department for agricultural management in the form of maps and tables.To calculate the actual proportion of OELF in the agrarian spaces of a farm or community as an actual value, for which as a rule there is no complete or exact spatial data available, practical methods are presented. The criterion ‘proportion of OELF in agrarian spaces’ is seen as fulfilled if the target value of the farm or community can be shown as having been achieved.
This paper presents an assessment system which on the basis of quantifiable criteria and appropriate orientation values describes the risk potentials of farming as far as environmental protection and sustainability is concerned. The procedure addresses the most significant risks and suggests ranges for their tolerability. By this way farmers can recognize principal shortcomings of their management and look for appropriate countermeasures to cope with them. The guiding principle is a way of farming which uses the available resources and the production potential as efficiently as possible, while keeping the unfavorable impacts on soils, water, air and biota within acceptable limits. Several years of investigations in about 125 different farms have shown that non-tolerable impacts of fanning on the environment are predominantly due to avoidable managerial mistakes. The suggested assessment system provides criteria for the actual magnitude and the tolerability of the different risk potentials and may thus help to substantiate the compliance with such general principles as "good farming practice".
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