Reconciling nature conservation and traditional farming practices: a spatially explicit framework to assess the extent of High Nature Value farmlands in the European countryside Angela Lomba1,2,3, Paulo Alves1, Rob H. G. Jongman2 & David I. McCracken3 1Centro de Investigacßao~ em Biodiversidade e Recursos Geneticos (CIBIO), Campus Agrario de Vairao,~ 4485-661 Vairao,~ Portugal 2Alterra, Wageningen University and Research Centre, P.O. Box 47, 6700 AA Wageningen, the Netherlands 3Hill & Mountain Research Centre, Scotland’s Rural College, Auchincruive, Ayr KA6 5HW, UK Keywords Summary Agri-environment schemes, agro-biodiversity, 1 conservation and monitoring programs, Agriculture constitutes a dominant land cover worldwide, and rural land- indicators, low-intensity farming practices. scapes under extensive farming practices acknowledged due to high biodiver- sity levels. The High Nature Value farmland (HNVf) concept has been Correspondence highlighted in the EU environmental and rural policies due to their inherent ^ ~ Angela Lomba, CIBIO, Centro de Investigacßao potential to help characterize and direct financial support to European land- em Biodiversidade e Recursos Geneticos, scapes where high nature and/or conservation value is dependent on the Campus Agrario de Vairao,~ R. Padre continuation of specific low-intensity farming systems. Armando Quintas, 4485-661 Vairao,~ 2 Portugal. Assessing the extent of HNV farmland by necessity relies on the availability Tel: +351 220 402 790; of both ecological and farming systems’ data, and difficulties associated with Fax: +351 220 402 799; making such assessments have been widely described across Europe. A spa- E-mail:
[email protected] tially explicit framework of data collection, building out from local adminis- trative units, has recently been suggested as a means of addressing such Funding Information difficulties.