Agri-environmental measures for the conservation of semi-natural grassland: a case of study in Natura 2000 sites in Marche Region (Italy)

Agri-environmental measures (AEM) are increasingly seen as essential tools for land conservation and management. Typically, Rural Development Programmes (RDP) are implemented on a farm level while most of the biophysical processes in agriculture occur on a larger scale. In 2011, Marche Region RDP 2007-2013 enabled Agri-Environmental Agreements (AEA) for biodiversity conservation. An AEA is defined as an agreement between public and private stakeholders (SHs) of a limited territory in order to improve its environmental conditions. We did a stakeholder analysis (SA) in a case study of AEA launched on a Natura 2000 site. We analysed the results in the light of a well-experienced conceptual diagnostic framework and its variables. The AEMs were first defined between regional services and some experts which also included a researcher who made experimentations with farmers in the area. After defining the AEMs, farmers were encouraged to get involved in meetings only to choose which of the proposed AEMs could be adopted in their AEA. SA results showed that the lack of involvement of the farmers after the defining of AEMs, limited the local knowledge inclusion which was only partially compensated by experts who participated. Moreover, involvement of other SHs also turned out to be indispensable since the first steps to take into account bureaucratic issues that could slow down the process of implementation. Based on AEA analysis, we propose guidelines for defining AEMs in order to guarantee a landscape approach to better address the conservation issues regarding semi-natural grasslands.