EU CAP NETWORK - The role of knowledge and promotion

Summary in the original language of the document

High Diversity Landscape Features (HDLF) are small natural or semi-natural areas of vegetation (e.g. flower strips, hedges, tree grove, etc.) and specific habitats (e.g. dry-stone walls, terraces, etc.) in agricultural land which provide important contributions to biodiversity and other ecosystem services. The EU Biodiversity Strategy 2030 sets a target of at least 10% of agricultural area under HDLF. For this to succeed, farmers need to be motivated to maintain these elements on their farms or to create new ones. However, many farmers have not explicitly considered HDLF elements on their farm, know the benefits of biodiversity for food production, know how these features should be created and maintained, or which ones best suit their own farm enterprise. Various factors can contribute to addressing these issues such as rewards and incentives for habitat creation, financial and technical support for maintenance services, increased awareness of direct benefits for production or an adapted knowledge transfer.
In this paper we focus on knowledge exchange for the promotion of HDLF for biodiversity. We explore the methods and tools currently used to communicate and disseminate biodiversity knowledge in the agricultural knowledge system. We examine the effectiveness of different mechanisms and look at which approaches are successful and which less so, and for what reasons. Good practice examples are provided. Based on the review and description of tools, we identify research needs and highlight potential ideas for innovation.