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SHOWCASing synergies between agriculture, biodiversity and Ecosystem services to help farmers capitalising on native biodiversity

Project description

Incentives for implementing biodiversity management in farming

Little is known about what effectively motivates farmers to integrate biodiversity into daily farm management. In addition, there are only a few studies showing that biodiversity-based approaches produce benefits and this evidence is poorly communicated. The EU-funded SHOWCASE project aims to shed light on these issues by reviewing and testing the ecological effectiveness of a range of economic and societal incentives to implement biodiversity management in farming operations and examine farmer and public acceptance. The project is focusing on result-based incentives, involvement in citizen science biodiversity monitoring and biodiversity-based business models. Moreover, it will design communication strategies that are tailor-made for farmers and other key stakeholders operating in different socio-economic and environmental conditions.

Objective

The slow adoption by the agricultural sector of practices to promote biodiversity are thought to originate from three interrelated issues. First, we know little about which incentives effectively motivate farmers to integrate biodiversity into daily farm management. Second, few studies so far have produced evidence that biodiversity-based approaches produce benefits in terms of key variables for farmers (yield, profit). Third, there is a large communication gap between the scientists investigating biodiversity-based farming practices and the farmers that have to implement them.

To overcome these barriers, SHOWCASE will review and test the effectiveness of a range of economic and societal incentives to implement biodiversity management in farming operations and examine farmer and public acceptance. Focus will be on three promising approaches: (i) result-based incentives, (ii) involvement in citizen science biodiversity monitoring and (iii) biodiversity-based business models. SHOWCASE will co-produce together with stakeholders a solid interdisciplinary evidence for the agro-ecological and socio-economic benefits of biodiversity management in 10 contrasting farming systems across Europe. SHOWCASE will also design communication strategies that are tailor-made to farmers and other key stakeholders operating in different socio-economic and environmental conditions.

SHOWCASE will develop a multi-actor network of 10 Experimental Biodiversity Areas in contrasting European farming systems that will be used for in-situ research on biodiversity incentives and evidence for benefits as well as knowledge exchange. This network will be used to identify and test biodiversity indicators and targets relevant to all stakeholders and use them in a learning-by-doing approach to improve benefits of biodiversity management on farms both within the network and beyond.

Call for proposal

H2020-SFS-2018-2020

See other projects for this call

Sub call

H2020-SFS-2019-2

Coordinator

WAGENINGEN UNIVERSITY
Net EU contribution
€ 761 000,00
Address
DROEVENDAALSESTEEG 4
6708 PB Wageningen
Netherlands

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Region
Oost-Nederland Gelderland Veluwe
Activity type
Higher or Secondary Education Establishments
Links
Total cost
€ 761 000,00

Participants (23)