BACKGROUND
The High Nature Value grasslands of Târnava Mare are under threat of arable conversion because continued declines in farming subsidies are forcing landowners to adopt high-intensity agricultural practices and sell their land to large agrifood companies. It is clear that public funding is insufficient to protect this unique and charismatic biodiversity reservoir therefore the time has come to explore how the private sector could foot the bill. Can Voluntary Biodiversity Credits be used to save Transylvania’s grasslands?
This project is one of the first biodiversity credit funded initiatives in the world. It will generate biodiversity credits to be sold to private sector organisations who are under pressure to meet their Nature Positive targets. Funding generated through the sale of credits will be used to create a sustainable funding model that rewards small-scale farmers for continuing to use low-intensity nature-friendly land management practices in the Târnava Mare region of Transylvania. Biodiversity credit funded projects have a minimum length of 25 years, therefore this approach provides farmers with medium-to-long-term stability rather than relying on unreliable and changeable government and EU subsidies that have been continuing to decline over recent years and decades.
PROJECT GOAL
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- To protect and enhance the biodiversity of Transylvania’s HNV grasslands through the establishment of a biodiversity credit funded results-based payment scheme that rewards farmers for maintaining low-intensity and nature-friendly land management practices.
CORE OBJECTIVE:
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- To generate sufficient avoided loss biodiversity credits across Târnava Mare to establish a sufficiently incentivising results-based payment scheme that encourages small-scale farmers to continue using nature-friendly farming practices to ameliorate the threat of agricultural expansion throughout the region.
ADDITIONAL OBJECTIVES
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- To integrate local communities into project design and biodiversity data collection.
- To adopt innovative approaches to habitat mapping and biodiversity monitoring that maintain data integrity and verifiability across a large landscape-scale.
- To strengthen rural economies through market-based incentives for nature conservation.
- To align biodiversity credit implementation with globally recognized principles such as additionality, permanence, measurability, and transparency.
- To be among the first projects globally to demonstrate how biodiversity credits and private sector funding can be used to protect and restore threatened landscapes at scale.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES
- A functioning, privately funded biodiversity credit scheme, based on scientifically verified biodiversity uplift or avoided loss;
- 25-year land management agreements with local farmers;
- Restoration and avoided loss of key habitats (meadows, pastures, wood pastures);
- Strengthened capacity among conservationists and farmers for biodiversity stewardship;
- Enhanced local engagement and awareness through citizen science tools;
- Market support for biodiversity-linked products (milk, cheese, etc.).
EXPECTED RESULTS IN ROMANIA
- Protection of 33,000+ ha of HNV grasslands in the Târnava Mare region;
- Annual biodiversity monitoring across six key indicators (Breeding birds, herpetofauna, plants, butterflies, aboveground arthropods, soil inverts);
- Socio-economic revitalization through better product pricing and eco-tourism
- Improved policy alignment for biodiversity-friendly farming
- Measurable reduction in habitat degradation and species decline
