LIFE TransilvaCooperation

Demonstrating cooperative approach for good management of Natura 2000 grasslands at landscape scale in Transylvania and improving effectiveness of agri-environment measures, halting the loss of species and habitats of European importance.



Funded by: EU’s LIFE programme
Project Duration : 1st Sepgtember 2020 - 29th December 2023 (3 years)
Budget: 596.275 Euro

Project Objectives

GOAL

Demonstrate how landscape-scale cooperation can improve conservation management of Habitats Directive grassland habitats of farmland N2000 sites in Transylvania, and improve effectiveness of agri-environment measures, halting the loss of species and habitats of European importance.

 

OBJECTIVES

  • Develop habitat, species, land use maps for Angofa and Viscri valleys including landscape features.
  • Develop local management plans in the two valleys, co-designed with the many small-scale land managers, in order to implement cooperative agri-environment management with full local support.
  • Carry out concrete habitat restoration actions, whose effectiveness will be measured by baseline and then annual species monitoring, on minimum 240 ha, according to local requirements: reducing scrub, returning grassland from pasture to hay meadow, fencing of parcels to reduce stocking rate and reduce abusive grazing of haymeadows, returning abandoned land to managed grassland.
  • Return from unfavourable to favourable conservation status, by concrete conservation actions, minimum 240 ha of the following habitats: 40A0*; 6210; 6240*; 6510.
  • Promote future good management, to maintain favourable conservation status, of approximately 1800 ha of grassland and associated landscape features, at valley/water catchment scale, of which minimum 500 ha are HD grassland habitats, through local management plans.
  • Establish a demonstration farm at Angofa Valley, including by building innovative livestock buildings mostly on the footprint of the existing farm buildings, and by buying and demonstrating innovative (in Romania) equipment (including mowers, mobile herd management equipment). By using local materials and simple but effective designs, this will show how livestock and grassland management improvements (offering better biodoversity results, better income for farmers and better welfare for animals) can be done at costs accessible to local communities.
  • Training of farmers in Natura 2000 sites, especially young farmers, in cooperative landscape-scale biodiversity management.
  • Promotion/dissemination. Demonstrate to farmers, policy makers, general public how biodiversity friendly farming in N2000 areas can be economically viable by the use of innovative low-input management techniques, landscape-scale cooperation, well-targeted RDP payments (especially agri-environment payments but not only), and development of new products / better marketing.

EXPECTED RESULTS

  • Monitoring methodology developed incorporating as far as possible Nature 2000 Favourable Condition Tables, and results-based indicator species, to assist the two approaches being used together in N2000 sites. Two habitat, species and land use maps, one each for Angofa and Viscri valleys
  • Two local management plans (Viscri and Angofa), co-designed with land managers. Propose these to Min. of Environment for incorporation in N2000 Management Plan for the area
  • Demonstration farm established, equipped with innovative livestock handling buildings and equipment, grassland management equipment, with long term role in training, policy influence and public dissemination after project end
  • Concrete habitat restoration actions on min. 240 ha of HD grassland habitats, improved from unsatisfactory to favourable conservation status. Includes 40 ha of meadow and 200 ha of pasture, all HD grassland habitats
  • Approximately 1800 ha of grassland and associated landscape features, at valley/water catchment scale, including c. 500 ha of HD grassland habitats, assured future good management under the locally-agreed local management plans
  • Two farmer associations/ farmer groups attend courses in biodiversity management of HD grasslands in N2000 sites (2 courses each year for 3 years). Farmer associations will be total 50-60 farmers
  • Cooperative management approaches adopted by 8-10 farmers on c.800ha in Angofa valley, 40-50 farmers on c.1000 ha in Viscri Valley, including grassland and associated landscape features
  • Local/regional/national policy makers have better understanding of innovative management approaches, consider their use in implementation of Natura 2000 management plans.
  • Visitors and media understand better the role of integrated management approaches and of how N2000 can work together positively with communities in farmed Natura 2000 landscapes. Visitors will include general public, including special days organised for schoolchildren.

 

Project Updates

Activities done so far under the TransilvaCoop project:

  • 2021
    • May 2021 - Adaptation of farmer smart app that will offer information on farming techniques, how to make nature-friendly farming more profitable, processing and marketing of products, and new ways to increase income at farm and village level by diversification and cooperation. The free app also provides news, information on current problems, and answers to readers’ questions.
    • June 2021- Film clips creation: Photographed and filmed the project's progress, including interviews with monitoring specialists, ADEPT staff, and farmers.
    • October 2021:
      • Purchase of necessary equipment and installations: we have purchased cattle handling equipment, and created now bore holes to improve water points in Angofa and Viscri, for community use, which will allow better grazing management.
      • Study and evaluation of various tools for farm assessment including platemeter for measuring plant mass in fields, Soilmentor soil and biodiversity monitoring app, and access to analysis software provided by UNISECO project (implemented by WWF), the SMART and Cool Farm Tool.
    • October 2020 - June 2022:
      • Series of meetings with neighbouring and other local farmers and other stakeholders, including other NGOs (Colinele Transilvaniei, Milvus, WWF).
      • Continuous discussions and meetings with experts on insects, plants, animals, and GIS mapping.
  • 2022
    • November 2021: Field research methodology designed and implemented through establishing control parcels and vegetation monitoring in order to map out the habitats of Angofa and Viscri, complete the database and information interpretation.
    • 27 February and 16 June 2022: Discussions with the University and other institutions in Latvia on Results-based Agri-environment Schemes.
    • 29-30 March and 18 June 2022: Workshops on butterflies and EU Biodiversity Strategy targets, including local farmers.
    • 12-13 May 2022: Participated in the IUCN workshop on pollinators.
    • 19 May 2022: Presented the project at LIFE Info Day, organized by the Ministry of Environment in Romania.
    • June 2022: Field visit for soil sample collection: Collected soil samples from 20 parcels in Viscri and Angofa, mixing them to generate a soil carbon baseline.
    • December 2021: Baseline surveys of biodiversity and socio-economy conducted in Angofa and Viscri.
    • 29 November 2022: Viscri farmer meeting on marketing and innovation.
    • 21 October 2021: Press visit.

 

  • 2023
    • 5 March 2023: Sighișoara meeting with farmers and relevant stakeholders, including representatives of academia and local and regional authorities
    • 13 July 2023: Angofa visit by FFI Romania, HNV area, and LIFE project exchange.
    • 20 September 2023: Farmer meeting in Saschiz.
    • 21 September 2023: Farmer meeting in Viscri.
    • 22 June 2023: BROZ Slovakia LIFE project exchange visit.
    • 23-27 October 2023: Muhu Liha farmers’ visit, LIFE project exchange visit.
    • November 2023: Colinele Transilvaniei app launch (ongoing).

 

  • 2024
    • January 2023 - May 2024: Business plan developed for neighbouring farmers that own cattle and/or sheep and intend to produce meat products.
    • April 2024: Soilmentor app updated with relevant information
    • 15 May 2024: APIA meeting with neighbouring farmers from Angofa.
    • May 2024: Completed restoration work of Angofa farmhouse, initiated in 2022
    • May 2024: Project clip presentation completed, first draft released
    • September 2023 - June 2024: Lobby for maintaining the HNV Package for agro-environment payments for small-scale farmers.

 

  • Land Restoration Data
    • Angofa Land Restoration:
      • 2022: Hay meadow 36.6Ha, Pasture 23.5Ha
      • 2023: Hay meadow 44.44Ha, Pasture 2Ha
      • 2024: Hay meadow 21.14Ha, Pasture 3.1Ha, Wilderness 2Ha

 

    • Viscri Land Restoration:
      • 2022: Hay meadow 0Ha, Pasture 70Ha
      • 2023: Hay meadow 0Ha, Pasture 120Ha
      • 2024: Hay meadow 0Ha, Pasture 100Ha

 

  • Meetings and Conferences
    • 28 February 2021: Attended a meeting on pesticides and chemicals organized by the Romanian Ministry of Environment & Forests.
    • 5 March 2021: Presented the TransilvaCoop project at an online workshop on the new European strategy 'Healthy soils'.
    • 24-25 March 2021: Presented the TransilvaCoop project at the EIP-AGRI workshop ‘Towards carbon-neutral agriculture’.
    • 13-14 April 2021: Participated in the EIP-AGRI seminar: Healthy soils for Europe.
    • 20 April and 11 June 2021: Met with regional NGOs WWF and Milvus to exchange project information and identify common objectives.
    • 27 April 2021: Presented the TransilvaCoop project at a thematic webinar organized by the European network for Rural Development (ENRD).
    • 28 April 2021: Participated in the EEB, BirdLife, and IEEP Regional Workshop on CAP Strategic Plans.
    • 10 June 2021: Attended a webinar on Getting the CAP Strategic Plans done.
    • 12 July 2021: Online meeting with the Ministry of Environment about the Natura 2000 payment system.
    • 7-9 September 2021 and 20 January 2022: Meetings with partners in the EU Safeguard project.
    • 27 February and 16 June 2022: Discussions with the University and other institutions in Latvia on Results-based Agri-environment Schemes.

Project Results

Activities done so far under the TransilvaCoop project:

  • Monitoring methodology developed incorporating as far as possible Nature 2000 Favourable Condition Tables, and results-based indicator species, to assist the two approaches being used together in N2000 sites.

 

  • Local management plans developed for Viscri and Angofa, co-designed with land managers.

 

  • Habitat, species and land use maps developed, one each for Angofa and Viscri valleys.

Habitats Management - Angofa

Habitats Management - Viscri

  • Demonstration farm established, equipped with innovative livestock handling buildings and equipment, grassland management equipment, with long term role in training, policy influence and public dissemination after project end.

 

  • Many visitors and media have visited the project and understand better the role of integrated, cooperative management approaches and of how Natura 2000 can work together positively with communities in farmed Natura 2000 landscapes. Visitors included general public, and special days organised for schoolchildren.

 

  • Habitat restoration actions were proposed on min. 240 ha of Habitats Directive grassland habitats, improved from unsatisfactory to favourable conservation status. Includes 40 ha of meadow and 200 ha of pasture, all Habitats Directive grassland habitats. Under the project we have restored 102 ha of haymeadow 250 ha of pasture, exceeding targets.

 

  • We have arranged courses in biodiversity management of Habitats Directive   grasslands for Viscri farmer associations and Angofa farmer group, total 50 farmers. This will help them increase incomes as well as protect biodiversity and sustainability of farming systems. 8 farmers on c.800ha in Angofa valley, and 40-50 farmers on c.1000 ha in Viscri Valley, are now working together in cooperative management of grassland and associated landscape featuresAs a result of many meetings during the 4 year project period, local, regional and national policy makers have a better understanding of and support for innovative management approaches.

 

  • We have co-created with farmers local management plans, under which approximately 1800 ha of grassland and associated landscape features, at valley/water catchment scale, including approximately 500 ha of Habitats Directive grassland habitats, are now assured future good management.

Managing Body & Contact

Laura Chirilă-Pașca

Marketing & Enterprise Manager
Fundația ADEPT Transilvania

Tel: 004 (0) 744 650 582
laura@fundatia-adept.org

Video

Urmărește clipurile de mai jos, care prezintă activitățile derulate în cadrul proiectului nostru

Publications

The TransilvaCooperation project has received funding from the LIFE Programme of the European Union

Disclaimer:

Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or CINEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

Our Partners

Biodiversity conservation and community development in Transylvania
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