The State of Slovenia's Biodiversity for Food And
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COUNTRY REPORTS THE STATE OF SLOVENIA’S BIODIVERSITY FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE This country report has been prepared by the national authorities as a contribution to the FAO publication, The State of the World’s Biodiversity for Food and Agriculture. The report is being made available by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as requested by the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture. The information in this report has not been verified by FAO, and the content of this document is entirely the responsibility of the authors, and does not necessarily represent the views of FAO, or its Members. The designations employed and the presentation of material do not imply the expression of any opinion whatsoever on the part of FAO concerning legal or development status of any country, territory, city or area or of its authorities or concerning the delimitation of its frontiers or boundaries. The mention of specific companies or products of manufacturers, whether or not these have been patented, does not imply that these have been endorsed by FAO in preference to others of a similar nature that are not mentioned. SLOVENIA_COUNTRY REPORT FOR THE STATE OF THE WORLD_Slovenia_FINAL_12.7.2016.docx FINAL COUNTRY REPORT FOR THE STATE OF THE WORLD’S BIODIVERSITY FOR FOOD AND AGRICULTURE SLOVENIA Executive summary Slovenia is characterised by an exceptionally diverse and relatively well preserved natural environment. Such a high biodiversity is primarily a consequence of the convergence of various types of climate, geological structure and large altitude differences in small area, while it is also connected to a large extent with traditional agricultural use. For Slovenia, biodiversity is important for different reasons, since it is a basis for life and includes a human being as its integral part, and therefore its importance for society and country is invaluable. Ecosystem solutions in Slovenia have not been completely recorded and economically evaluated yet; some studies have been already carried out dealing with individual fields. In Slovenia, in recent years the awareness that healthy ecosystems bring benefits to the people has increased at the local as well as national level. At the level of the European Union, with Slovenia being a Member State, the understanding of the importance of healthy ecosystems is increasing. Recent development indicates that decision-making members are changing their views and are including the ecosystem approach in some sector-specific policies. Slovenia has the highest ratio of Natura 2000 areas in the EU, namely 37, 16% (2016). Due to the great scope of Nature 2000 areas and their related obligations, Slovenia in the last decade has been focussing mainly on the state of important European species and habitats. The deterioration of the state of grassland habitat types is in particular worrying since their use as agricultural land was abandoned thus causing their overgrown state or they were converted to fields in the past. In general, the state of forest habitat types is still fairly conserved, although there are increasing pressures on the forest area. As per the legislation, forest management is sustainable, environment-friendly and multi-purpose in Slovenia. Flooded and other lowland forest as well as some forest habitat types of a smaller scale are endangered in particular. Climate change with frequent weather extremes, draughts in particular, has an important impact on endangering of genetic diversity of all types of forest trees and other plant genetic resources. These extremes affect their long-term thriving at the present areas of distribution. In the last five years, the biggest threats to biodiversity in Slovenia remain mostly unchanged and such assessment is also given to the state of associated biodiversity in Slovenia. The negative impacts of the expansion of invasive non-indigenous species and climate change are being emphasised recently. The highest threat to the ecosystems of agricultural landscape is the intensification of the agricultural production and the abandoning of traditional agricultural activity at economically unattractive areas and their forest overgrowing. In the field of the use of genetic resources in agriculture and food, the highest risk to genetic diversity of domestic animal breeds and species as well as autochthonous and traditional landraces and crop species is posed by the globalisation of the agriculture market. There prevail agricultural practices that introduce new animal breeds and species as well as new crop varieties which are more adapted to the intensive method of agriculture. The non-native species are also recognised as a great threat to biodiversity in Slovenia. Invasive plants are expanding quickly along the watercourses and traffic routes. This problem is most evident at the wetlands and along the major rivers (Sava, Drava, Mura) where the invasive plants completely supplanted the natural vegetation. Climate change is one of the biggest challenges for biodiversity in Slovenia. In the last five years, several extreme weather events struck the area of Slovenia. There is a growing occurrence of warm 1 SLOVENIA_COUNTRY REPORT FOR THE STATE OF THE WORLD_Slovenia_FINAL_12.7.2016.docx FINAL winters which affects the biodiversity (disrupted patterns of hibernation, expansion of thermophilic species, etc.). In the last decade the fragmentation and deterioration of natural habitats continued also due to urbanisation, construction of traffic routes and energy facilities. Natural regeneration in forests is generally successful, sometimes causes difficulties game. The non- native species may also cause some problems in forest. In the Republic of Slovenia, biodiversity is included in the main as well as different sectorial strategies, plans and programmes – stated below (in relation to the agriculture, forestry and food). The planning in the field of nature conservation in the Republic of Slovenia is conducted through the National Nature Protection Programme and National Forest Programme. This defines operational programmes that contribute to the attainment of objectives of conserving biodiversity, namely: operational programmes for the preservation of biodiversity with the programme for the management of the Natura 2000 areas, operative programme – strategy of the management of large carnivore populations and operational programme – strategy for management of non-native invasive species and forest management plans. The National Reform Programme (NRP) is the Government’s medium-term plan for priority measures and projects aimed at achieving the objectives of the Europe 2020 Strategy. The Rural Development Programme 2014-2020 (RDP 2014-2020) is a strategic document, within the scope of which agriculture-environmental measures are being implemented with the aim to introduce the concept of sustainable agriculture and preservation of natural resources and biodiversity. The Operational Programme for the Implementation of the EU Cohesion Policy in the 2014-2020 periods is a special priority investment for the protection and recovery of biodiversity and soil and stimulation of ecosystem services. Forest management provides a multi-purpose forest management according to the protection of environment and natural values and the monitoring of the state of forest as an ecosystem. Wild game management provides ecological, social and economic functions of wild game and their habitats, and includes planning, preservation, sustainable management and monitoring of the condition of wild game. The strategic vision of the fisheries sector is to attain the development of fishing fleet which is harmonised with the available fisheries resources and the attainment of competitive and environment-friendly fish farming activities. In 2004, Slovenia established the network of Natura 2000 areas that, with a smaller increase in 2016, comprises 37,16 % of the national territory. It is an important achievement in the field of nature preservation which introduced an increased consideration of the nature protection in spatial planning and planning of the use of natural resources into Slovenia. The Operational Natura 2000 Management Programme imposes management measures on sectors in terms of their competence in the area. The introduction of biodiversity in the legislation mechanisms and policies has evidently improved, while the activities in the field of the implementation of measures have been less effective. Some impacts of agriculture have reduced in the recent period, in particular in the field of reducing the intake of fertilisers and plant protection products. The positive evaluation may be given to the implementation of measures for the preservation of the indigenous breeds and plants, since the situation has improved. The implementation of measures in the field of forestry may also be given a positive mark which is reflected in relatively well preservation of the majority of forest habitats and species. In the last five years, gradual progress in introducing the objectives for preserving biodiversity at the level of regulations and sectorial policies is detected in the field of fisheries. The introduction of nature protection guidelines and measures in the plans in the field of hunting has improved in recent years. The data indicates that the state of species defined as game animals is favourable. In the field of biodiversity in agriculture, the RDP 2014-2020 pursues two environmental objectives: 2 SLOVENIA_COUNTRY REPORT FOR THE STATE OF THE WORLD_Slovenia_FINAL_12.7.2016.docx