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. A.L. is supported by the Portuguese Science 3 This manuscript tests the relevance of the proposed approach, describes the and Technology Foundation (FCT) through Postdoctoral Grant SFRH/BPD/ 80747/2011. spatially explicit framework in a case study area in northern Portugal, and D.M. input to this manuscript was partially discusses the potential of the approach to help better inform the implemen- funded by the Scottish Government Rural tation of conservation and rural development policies. Affairs & Environment Portfolio Strategic 4 Synthesis and applications: The potential of a novel approach (combining Research Programme 2011–2016, Theme 3: land use/cover, farming and environmental data) to provide more accurate Land Use. and efficient mapping and monitoring of HNV farmlands is tested at the local level in northern Portugal. The approach is considered to constitute a Received: 9 July 2014; Revised: 25 November 2014; Accepted: 6 January 2015 step forward toward a more precise targeting of landscapes for agri-environ- ment schemes, as it allowed a more accurate discrimination of areas within Ecology and Evolution 2015; 5(5): 1031–1044 the case study landscape that have a higher value for nature conservation. doi: 10.1002/ece3.1415 Introduction McCracken 2000; Paracchini et al. 2010; Oppermann et al. 2012). Over past centuries, European landscapes have been Agricultural landscapes currently account for half of shaped by human management. Traditional, low-intensity Europe’s territory (Overmars et al. 2013), with ca. 50% of agricultural practices, adapted to local climatic, geo- all species relying on agricultural habitats at least to some graphic, and environmental conditions, led to a rich, extent (Kristensen 2003; Moreira et al. 2005; Halada et al. diverse cultural and natural heritage, reflected in a wide 2011). Due to their acknowledged role in the maintenance range of rural landscapes, most of which were preserved of high levels of biodiversity, low-intensity farming until the advent of industrialized agriculture (Bignal & systems have been highlighted as critical to nature ª 2015 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd. 1031 This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. High Nature Value Farmlands Assessment in Europe A. Lomba et al. conservation and protection of the rural environment et al. 2008; EENRD 2009; Peppiette 2011; Lomba et al. (Beaufoy et al. 1994; Paracchini et al. 2010; Halada et al. 2014), the diversity of rural landscapes across the EU, the 2011; Egan & Mortensen 2012). Many areas included in lack of suitable datasets on essential indicators, and espe- the Natura 2000 network, the main policy initiative for cially the absence of a common methodology for mapping nature conservation in the European Union, are currently currently constrain the operationalization of the HNVf under agricultural management for crop or livestock pro- concept as a policy instrument across Europe (Pedroli duction. Maintaining such High Nature Value farming et al. 2007; Peppiette 2011; EEA 2012; Oppermann et al. systems is crucial for the long-term success of Natura 2012). Hence, the identification, testing, and implementa- 2000 as a fundamental ecological network in Europe tion of effective spatially explicit indicators that could be (EEA 2004). used to express landscape and/or crop heterogeneity in The concept of “High Nature Value farmlands” (here- relation to known biodiversity levels and management after HNVf; Beaufoy et al. 1994) was devised to help practices have been encouraged (Wascher et al. 2010; EEA characterize and direct financial support to those agricul- 2012; Lomba et al. 2014). ture-dominated landscapes where high nature and/ or In this manuscript, a spatially explicit framework is conservation value is dependent on the continuation of presented after Lomba et al. (2014) to assess the extent of specific low-intensity farming systems (Andersen et al. HNVf at the local administrative unit level (LAU, as 2003; Pedroli et al. 2007; Halada et al. 2011; Ribeiro et al. defined by Eurostat; http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/). 2014). HNVf owe their intrinsic ecological value to the Lomba et al. (2014) advocate that a common European presence of semi-natural agricultural habitats (defined framework for the identification, mapping, and regular after Andersen et al. 2003 as type 1, hereafter HNVf1), to assessment (i.e., monitoring) of HNVf areas should rely the presence of small crop fields intermingled with other on the highest spatial and temporal resolution data avail- farmland features such as mature trees, shrubs, scrub, or able within each administrative unit and implemented in linear features such as field margins and hedges (defined each targeted area, ensuring that the most accurate data after Andersen et al. 2003 as type 2, hereafter HNVf2), are always mobilized to help identify HNVf and assess and to the presence of species of high conservation inter- rural development programs at a local, national, and EU est (e.g., bird, reptiles), in often intensively managed level (RDPs; EC 2006; but see Lomba et al. 2014 for a landscapes (defined after Andersen et al. 2003 as type 3, review). Overall, our HNVf mapping approach relies on hereafter HNVf3). the spatially explicit analysis and combination of sets of While farmlands of high nature value and their associ- indicators known to express the most relevant ecological ated management practices have been widely acknowl- and management features of agro-ecosystems (Lomba edged as beneficial for biodiversity enhancement (e.g., et al. 2014), that is, data expressing landscape structure Bignal & McCracken 2000; Egan & Mortensen 2012), and composition (Landscape Elements indicators), farm- such landscapes have been declining due to rural depopu- ing systems (Extensive Practices indicators), and crop lation, agricultural abandonment and afforestation in diversity (Crop Diversity indicators). Additionally, infor- marginal farming areas, and intensification in the most mation on species whose survival is dependent on the productive areas (Stoate et al. 2009; EEA 2012; Opper- maintenance of extensive farmlands is also included mann et al. 2012; Ribeiro et al. 2014). As a consequence, (Indicator Species). The proposed approach is illustrated the importance of HNVf for nature conservation and for a municipality located in a mountainous area of rural development is now enshrined within Europe’s agri- northern Portugal. The proposed spatially explicit cultural and environmental policies (Stoate et al. 2009; approach and its outcomes in the study area are discussed Jongman 2013; Ribeiro et al. 2014), and assessing changes in the context of land-sharing for biodiversity conserva- to the area of agricultural land under HNVf is currently tion and/ or enhancement in the EU countryside, together one of the biodiversity indicators used to evaluate the with its potential application to HNVf assessment across effectiveness of EU Member State Rural Development Europe and to helping improve the targeting of agri-envi- Programs (RDPs; EC 2006; Peppiette 2011). ronment schemes. Assessing the extent of HNV farmland by necessity relies on both ecological and farming systems’ data, and Materials and Methods difficulties with making such assessments have been widely described (Peppiette 2011; Oppermann et al. 2012; Study area Lomba et al. 2014). While EU common methodological guidelines broadly rely on land cover, farming system and The municipality of Melgacßo, located in a