High Nature Value Farmland Assignments

2018 HIGH NATURE VALUE FARMLAND ASSIGNMENTS Irina Herzon, Traci Birge, Joséphine Pithon, Solvita Rūsiņa, Marjaana Toivonen, Tomas Roslin and Guillaume Pain with contribution from Riina Koivuranta, Helena Wirta, James Moran, Brendan Dunford, and Lars Johansson. HNV-LINK PROJECT Deliverable D.3.18 Package of Educational Materials THIS PROJECT HAS RECEIVED FUNDING FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION HORIZON 2020 RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PROGRAMME UNDER GRANT AGREEMENT NO. 696391 PAGE 0 / NUMPAGES 36 HNV-Link D.3.18 Package of Educational Materials Assignments 1 Preface Many of Europe’s most endangered habitat types and species are dependent on farming practices that have evolved in specific regions according to their particular environmental conditions. Such practices are usually of low intensity operating within the resource constraints of the regions, and they form the backbone of regional rural cultures. The concept of High Nature Value (HNV) farmland developed in the early 1990s from a growing recognition that the conservation of biodiversity in Europe depends, among other factors, on the continuation of traditional low-intensity farming systems. Nowadays, HNV farming is recognized as including both those traditional farming systems, as well as other types of low intensity farming that provide habitat for biodiversity associated with farm landscapes. HNV farming and the farmland associated with it are present in all European countries, with a diversity of types and extent. HNV farmlands have many values – outstanding and unique natural diversity, cultural heritage and identity of regions, unique and high quality products, employment in marginalized regions, local production with minimal environmental impact – but most of these belong to public goods that are not supported by market systems. Many HNV farmland regions undergo abandonment or transformation into intensive production systems. The challenge is to improve the social and economic sustainability of HNV farming without losing the HNV characteristics. For this, HNV farmland needs to find its place in education and advisory services as part of the overall sustainability challenge. This compilation of assignments belongs to a HNV farming educational package, which also includes seven sets of presentation slides, and a database of resources on the HNV farmland theme. It was produced under HNV-Link, a project funded by the European Union Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme, for developing and sharing innovations that support farming systems in areas of exceptional nature values across Europe. HNV-Link is a EU-wide consortium of 13 partners and focuses on 10 HNV farmlands across Europe for developing and spreading innovations (www.hnvlink.eu). Disclaimer: This document represents the views of the authors. The Research Executive Agency is not responsible for any use that may be made of the information it contains. THIS PROJECT HAS RECEIVED FUNDING FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION HORIZON 2020 RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PROGRAMME UNDER GRANT AGREEMENT NO. 696391 HNV-Link D.3.18 Package of Educational Materials Assignments 2 CONTENT Preface 1 How to use this resource 3 I. In-class assignments 4 1. Characterisation of a High Nature Value farming system 4 2. High Nature Value Farmland in my country 7 3. Marketing High Nature Value farmland 9 II. Field assignments 14 4. Functional groups of vascular plants 14 5. Pollination services in High Nature Value farmland 18 6. Dung decomposition in a pastoral High Nature Value farming system 23 III. Full-farm assignments 27 7. Agrobiodiversity of a High Nature Value system 27 8. Rapid assessment of nature values at farm scale 32 9. Assessing vulnerability and resilience of High Nature Value farming systems 41 IV. Training for advisors 44 10. Management plan for a semi-natural grassland 44 Appendix A. Key concepts of High Nature Value theme. 54 Appendix B. Major pollinator groups. 55 About the authors 56 THIS PROJECT HAS RECEIVED FUNDING FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION HORIZON 2020 RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PROGRAMME UNDER GRANT AGREEMENT NO. 696391 HNV-Link D.3.18 Package of Educational Materials Assignments 3 How to use this resource This resource puts together ready-to-use assignments to support educators in a variety of disciplines in their teaching about High Nature Value (HNV) farming and farmland. Though the focus is on HNV farming, many of the assignments can be applied to farms of any kind in connection to instruction on nature and resource management. The authors designed the assignment plans to include both classroom and field/on-farm activities and to cover a range of topics including ecological, social, and agronomic aspects of HNV farming. None of the assignments go in-depth in a single discipline (for example, specific ecological or agronomic objectives and methods). The target learning groups are vocational and higher education students, was well as advisors. Each assignment has a brief background with key concepts, but instructors (teachers or facilitators) and students will have to consult suggested and other sources for more information. Some assignments can be run within one study hour (1.5 hours) in class or the field but some require pre- class preparation by students or longer time to implement (for example, when visiting a farm). Assignments can also be made longer by adding levels of depth in working with the collected data (for example, analysing the data by statistics or creating figures). They can be combined in a variety of ways to accommodate for longer courses and holistic investigation of HNV farmland. None of the assignments require special equipment or lab facilities, but, of course, they can be complemented with collection of other ecological, environmental or agronomic data (for example, soil samples, nutrient values of biomass). In some cases, additional skills and knowledge can be accessed through coordinated teaching within the programme or involving guest lecturers. Depending on the assignment, students will need a sufficient number of worksheets, identification guides, calculators and access to the internet at some stages. Finally, the authors have suggested some alternative ways of working (individual or in groups) and synthesizing of information (face-to- face or using online collaborative tools such as Presemo, Flinga). This, however, is totally up to the instructors’ choice depending on needs, experience and available resources. The authors and contributors to this resource all have hands-on experience with teaching students from a variety of disciplines and countries about HNV farming and nature management on farms. The assignments are, thus, drawn from existing and tested teaching plans but a few are developed afresh. Taking into account the vast variation of HNV farmland situations and farms across the continent, the assignments can and should be adapted to the target audience with consideration of prior knowledge and regional specificity. Users are welcome to use these plans freely as a source of ideas and inspiration. The authors will be grateful for feedback or new ideas [email protected]. Irina Herzon and Traci Birge, Helsinki THIS PROJECT HAS RECEIVED FUNDING FROM THE EUROPEAN UNION HORIZON 2020 RESEARCH AND INNOVATION PROGRAMME UNDER GRANT AGREEMENT NO. 696391 HNV-Link D.3.18 Package of Educational Materials Assignments 4 I. In-class assignments 1. Characterisation of a High Nature Value farming system Type: In class Suggested target group: Master/PhD level Courses in Agroecology / Rural development / Human geography / Landscape ecology National or international group Duration: One class session Objectives: To gain understanding of the key concepts of High Nature Value farmland framework, their characterisation and typology; To appreciate the scope of dimensions (from ecological to social) that define HNV farming systems; To grasp past and present dynamics of the HNV farming systems’ development and to understand how these give rise to visioning for future scenarios. Background. There are three concepts commonly used in relation to the HNV farming concept: HNV farming, HNV farming systems, and HNV farmland (Keenleyside et al. 2014). These are described in Appendix A. Methodology. After presenting the key concepts above during the class session, the teacher asks the students to apply them to a so-called Baseline Assessment of a HNV farmland region. There are 10 assessments available online (www.hnvlink.eu). The teacher can choose one or several to work with, according to the course needs, or allow students to choose their own. If work is done in small groups, especially on different regions, it will be instructive to conduct a synthesis of the findings as a final activity. There can be several approaches to the task. 1) The whole class works through the same HNV farmland region, especially in a course of students from the same country. This will give them the possibility to explore the case region in more detail and using, if necessary, additional information (for example, research papers, reports and other sources). Work can proceed in pairs or in small groups. 2) Several small groups each work on a different region. This will be useful especially when students come from the respective different regions and wish to explore HNV farmland in the context of their own countries. 3) Synthesising: pairs of groups with different regions exchange their key findings by looking for similarities and differences of the results from the evaluation list. They report the identified THIS PROJECT HAS RECEIVED FUNDING FROM

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