TY - CHAP
T1 - Wooded grasslands as part of the European agricultural heritage
AU - Centeri, C.
AU - Renes, J.
AU - Roth, M.
AU - Kruse, A.
AU - Eiter, S.
AU - Kapfer, J.
AU - Santoro, A.
AU - Agnoletti, M.
AU - Emanueli,, F.
AU - Sigura, M.
AU - Dobrovodska, M.
AU - Štefunková, D.
AU - Kučera, Zdeněk
AU - Saláta, D.
AU - Varga, Anna
AU - Villacreces, S.
AU - Dreer, J.
AU - Slámová, M.
PY - 2016
Y1 - 2016
N2 - Wooded grasslands have always played an important role in rural life with changing issues: They are of high importance for questions of biodiversity, soil, and water resources and in preserving agricultural heritage, but their maintenance is labor intensive. Abandoned wooded grasslands undergo succession, and food production alone does not support their survival. They require special attention and at the beginning a well-established subsidy system can help to contribute to their survival. Their sustainable use in the present-day landscapes can only be conceivable in complexity where food production, reintroduction of their cultural values, biodiversity and landscape protection, and ecotourism are playing an important role. This chapter gives an overview on the recent situation of wooded grasslands and their historical development, based on the work done by the Institute for Research on European Agricultural Landscapes (www.eucalandnetwork.eu). National pictures, definitions, history (including local names), threats, potentials, cultural values, spatial distributions, subtypes, and available databases have been collected, described, and analyzed. The main results of this survey are as follows: (1) Wooded grasslands are known to the public but mainly to local communities where they occur; (2) Many subtypes of wooded grasslands exist in various European countries; (3) Wooded grasslands underwent tremendous changes during the past centuries and lost their importance for various reasons; (4) There are many local and regional projects focusing on wooded grasslands, often as “lighthouse” projects to valorise cultural achievements.
AB - Wooded grasslands have always played an important role in rural life with changing issues: They are of high importance for questions of biodiversity, soil, and water resources and in preserving agricultural heritage, but their maintenance is labor intensive. Abandoned wooded grasslands undergo succession, and food production alone does not support their survival. They require special attention and at the beginning a well-established subsidy system can help to contribute to their survival. Their sustainable use in the present-day landscapes can only be conceivable in complexity where food production, reintroduction of their cultural values, biodiversity and landscape protection, and ecotourism are playing an important role. This chapter gives an overview on the recent situation of wooded grasslands and their historical development, based on the work done by the Institute for Research on European Agricultural Landscapes (www.eucalandnetwork.eu). National pictures, definitions, history (including local names), threats, potentials, cultural values, spatial distributions, subtypes, and available databases have been collected, described, and analyzed. The main results of this survey are as follows: (1) Wooded grasslands are known to the public but mainly to local communities where they occur; (2) Many subtypes of wooded grasslands exist in various European countries; (3) Wooded grasslands underwent tremendous changes during the past centuries and lost their importance for various reasons; (4) There are many local and regional projects focusing on wooded grasslands, often as “lighthouse” projects to valorise cultural achievements.
KW - Biodiversity
KW - Rural countryside
KW - Best-practice examples
KW - Sustainable land use
KW - Biocultural diversity
U2 - 10.1007/978-3-319-26315-1_4
DO - 10.1007/978-3-319-26315-1_4
M3 - Chapter
SN - 978-3-319-26313-7
T3 - Environmental History
SP - 75
EP - 103
BT - Biocultural Diversity in Europe
PB - Springer
ER -
