ALPMEMA - Alpine Mountain Hay Meadows Management

Grasslands host a broad array of bio-cultural diversity, precious habitats and are witnesses of the local land-use history. Like other land-use types, grasslands depend on the human interventions to maintain their characteristics and bio-diversity. Mountain Hay Meadows is a specific type of grassland: they are species-rich, prefer moderate temperatures, extensive or moderately intensive cultivation and are located in the montane to subalpine zone, most of them above 600 meters altitude. Since the 1940s management practises in agriculture have significantly changed: these changes include mechanisation and intensification of favourable agricultural farmland on the one hand, while less favourable sites (e.g. mountainous areas) have been used less or have been abandoned. Although under-use can diminish biological diversity, too, most literature focuses on the management of over-use problems. In Europe and beyond, many grasslands and mountain hay meadows are among these bio-cultural systems challenged by under-use or abandonment. Many of them are protected by the EU Habitats Directive, which demands that these biotopes are preserved in a favourable biological status. ALPMEMA investigates best management practises for preserving Mountain Hay Meadows in a favourable conservation status: Contributing knowledge to the literature-gap on the management of under-use, ALPMEMA will compare land-use change and management practises of sites under varying property rights regimes inside and outside protected areas in Austria, Germany, Sweden and Armenia. Based on these results, we will develop scenarios for the future use and management of Alpine Hay Meadows together with different stakeholders. These scenarios shall support the post-2020 Biodiversity Framework and complimentary EU Policies and are expected to help preserving valuable habitats for future generations.