Biodiversity monitoring by farmers to sustain ecosystem services of high nature value grasslands in Austria

In 2007, the pilot project “Biodiversity monitoring in high nature value grasslands by farmers in Austria – We look at our meadows” started with fifty farmers monitoring indicator plant and animal species in extensive grasslands. Meanwhile, the monitoring methods and processes have been refined, based on first experiences, and lessons learned within the pilot phase. The overall goal of the project is to raise the farmers’ awareness and intensity of land management on biodiversity rich grasslands. Another objective of the project is to use this citizen-science scheme to gather in-depth knowledge about the effects of different extensive land management practices on biodiversity and ecosystem services. A countrywide network of more than 650 monitoring farmers was set up, supported and instructed by ecologists. Since 2009, also 14 agricultural college schools are participating in the project. Farmers observe and count plant and animal species that are sensitive to cultivation and fertilisation and report the monitoring data to a central online database. An evaluation in 2017 showed that farmers participating in this environmental consciousness raising initiative became significantly more sensitive to the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services and consequently to extensive farmland management methods. The project creates positive effects on farmers’ perspectives to high nature value grasslands, increases sensitivity to management practices and fosters the motivation to sustain these habitats. Farmers can retrieve data reports at farm level, cumulated evaluations are work in progress. The vision of the project team is to enlarge this biodiversity monitoring network with farmers to a European level in the next years.