Transcript ANIMAL RIGHTS

What is
High Nature Value
Farmland??
Gwyn Jones
European Forum on Nature Conservation &
Pastoralism
Outline of the talk
 Development
of the concept
 Some examples
 Links to and overlap with other
concepts
 What it might not be….
 Some dangers
1980’s – farming destroys nature
Protect nature from people
And lessen the destruction by:
 Stricter
rules
 Better technology
 Agri-environment payments
 Decoupling of subsidies from
production
A different view…..
The “grey area” is large!
The “grey area” is important!
“Low-intensity farming”
 Low
agro-chemical input
 Low energy input
 Lots of room for ecological
processes
 But.. Often high labour input
 And.. Low intensity is relative to
carrying capacity
 So term “High Nature Value” now
used
HNV farmland is a spectrum
LOW intensity
High % semi-natural
vegetation
Small-scale
mosaic
- “Type 1”
- “Type 2”
Type 1
Semi-natural vegetation
dominates
Type 2
Low-intensity mosaics
Definition drawn up for
European Environment Agency
“High Nature Value farmland consists of
those areas in Europe where
agriculture is a major (usually the
dominant) land use and which support
or are associated with either a high
species and habitat diversity or the
presence of species of European
conservation concern or both”
Three key features of HNV farmland
 ALWAYS
low-intensity
 ALWAYS a high proportion of seminatural vegetation
 OFTEN a mosaic of habitats
(including non-semi-natural)
Is that the same as…
 Organic
farming?
 Farming beautiful/historic landscapes?
 Farming on designated/protected sites?
 Protecting rare breeds?
 Protecting crop genetic diversity?
 Peasant farming?
No, but….