PROJECT DESCRIPTION
BACKGROUND
The Pannonian basin grassland habitats cover more than 200 000 km2 in Slovakia and Romania, and include a wide variety of different habitats such as inland salt meadows, salt steppes, salt marshes, dry grasslands and scrubland. As traditional farming methods are abandoned in favour of more intensive agriculture, many of these habitats have become degraded, resulting in a loss of biodiversity and the expansion of invasive alien species (IAS). These problems are compounded by a lack of scientific data, weak restoration policies and a significant increase in tourist numbers.
OBJECTIVES
The LIFE DIVERSEED project aims to contribute significantly to the implementation of the EU Habitats Directive and the EU 2030 Biodiversity strategy by focusing on degraded habitats, boosting the number of pollinators and creating high-biodiversity agro-ecosystems and peri-urban green areas. It will also support EU regulations on removing IAS and enhance agri-environment schemes in Romania which have so far failed to halt the loss of grassland.
The project will sustainably harvest seeds from priority habitats and develop protocols for collecting local seeds for reseeding protected grasslands. It will also use remote sensing to properly map and assess the decline of Romanian grasslands which has, until now, been underestimated.
The project’s specific objectives are to:
- restore priority grassland habitats in 33 Sites of Community Importance (SCIs): 30 in Slovakia and 3 in Romania
- introduce innovative mapping and restoration techniques with wide and long-lasting impact
- gather accurate scientific data concerning the target habitats in Romania
- restore at least 920 hectares (ha) of grasslands in 85 locations, with additional benefits for invertebrate pollinators
- reintroduce 2 500 individual plants of 10 endangered flagship species to these habitats
- develop 2 market-ready species-rich seed mixtures in Slovakia and at least 1 habitat-specific seed mixture in Romania
- develop protocols for restoring grasslands using these seed mixtures
- get an accurate picture of the extent of the loss of habitat loss and the effectiveness of current agri-environment schemes, with a view to redesigning such schemes in Romania
- replicate best practices elsewhere
- ensure the long-term management of habitats and sustainable use of their services in cooperation with local communities, farmers and other stakeholders
RESULTS
The project’s expected results are:
- restoration of 920 ha of priority grassland and shrub habitats (320 ha in Slovakia and 600 ha in Romania)
- sequestration of around 342 tonnes/CO2/year in the fully restored areas
- cultivation and planting of 2 500 individual specimens in at least 35 locations
- increased populations of 10 critically endangered or vulnerable plant species in Slovakia
- increase in populations of critically endangered plants on at least 50 sites in Slovakia
- development of 2 regional species-rich grassland seed mixtures in Slovakia:
- 200kg enriched mixture used over 10 ha
- 100kg regional mixture used over 5 ha
- development of 1 regional species-rich grassland seed mixture in Romania:
- 400kg/year produced after testing
- identification of source grasslands, and certification and preparation of the mixtures for market uptake
- involvement of at least 50 farmers managing 100 ha of land in Romania in updating agri-environment schemes for restoring and managing species-rich grasslands
- development of evidence-based vegetation diversity metrics for habitat mapping in Romania, using drone and satellite data combined with traditional field habitat assessments
- replication of best practices in at least 15 locations not directly covered by the project
