Grasslands are among the most endangered ecosystems in the world. They supply vital resources for society, support an abundance of wildlife species, and store rich carbon reserves beneath their surfaces. Despite this, only a fraction of original grasslands in the United States now remains, and their rate of conversion to cropland has recently reaccelerated. This paper discusses opportunities that are immediately available to reduce the loss of U.S. native grasslands (i.e., prairie) and advance toward collective goals in grassland conservation.

Chapter in ARCHIV 127335 - Rebuilding common property management : a case study of community-based natural resource management in rural Guizhou, China

Though only at its mid-term, the project has been successful in policy influence, securing funding which for the first time will be used for forest and pastoral plantations on farmers’ land, without expropriating them, and thus assuring joint responsibility for proper management. New models put forward by the project combine preservation measures with intensive irrigated fodder production, and development of complementary income-generating activities involving olive and fruit-tree plantations.

Cattle grazing and fire are common types of management on natural ecosystems, generating several threats to the conservation of native vegetation (e.g., changes in species richness, cover, and abundance, mainly of bovine-palatable species). In this work, we analysed the response of the structure and composition of vegetation managed with different cattle stocking rates and fire in the savanna ecosystems of Colombia. The study was located in the eastern area of the Llanos region, where savannas were subjected to grazing and burning.

Uit onderzoek in 2010 blijkt dat het gemeten stikstofleverend vermogen van veengraslanden varieert tussen 170 en 340 kg N per ha, en dat de verhouding tussen calcium (Ca) en magnesium (Mg) in de bodem hier een belangrijke voorspeller voor is. In het kader van het project ‘Bodemindicatoren voor duurzaam bodemgebruik in de veenweiden’ hebben het Louis Bolk Instituut, het Veenweiden Innovatiecentrum en WUR-Alterra onderzocht of er ook een oorzakelijk verband is tussen de Ca/Mg-verhouding en het stikstofleverend vermogen.

A feasibility study has been worked out for an integrated advisory system for precision agriculture on the production of forage (grass and maize) for dairy farming in the Netherlands. Technology is not restrictive anymore to apply precision agriculture on important cultivation measures. It is now about achieving an effective integration of sensor data, models, metrics and equipment in a comprehensive advice system. It has been advised how a practical advice system for operational decisions can be realized on the dairy farm in the foreseeable future (

In de omgeving van Winterswijk is vanaf 1999 10 ha multifunctionele beplantingen aangelegd, hoofdzakelijk van walnoot met gras. Overhoeken zijn ingeplant met vruchtstruiken. De eerste ervaringen met aanplant, grasbeheer, bijdrage aan recreatie en dergelijke zijn in dit rapport weergegeven.

Most current research on land-use intensification addresses its potential to either threaten biodiversity or to boost agricultural production. However, little is known about the simultaneous effects of intensification on biodiversity and yield. To determine the responses of species richness and yield to conventional intensification, we conducted a global meta-analysis synthesizing 115 studies which collected data for both variables at the same locations. We extracted 449 cases that cover a variety of areas used for agricultural (crops, fodder) and silvicultural (wood) production.

The Living Planet Report 2020 shows that there is an opportunity to heal our relationship with nature and mitigate risks of future pandemics but this better future starts with the decisions that governments, companies and people around the world take today. World leaders must take urgent action to protect and restore nature as the foundation for a healthy society and a thriving economy.

This report summarizes the key outcomes of the national efforts carried out in 2014 and 2015 towards putting in practice the land degradation neutrality concept. The LDN project, which was sponsored by the Republic of Korea, was carried out with the support of the UNCCD Secretariat and implemented in partnership with the Joint Research Center of the European Commission and CAP 2100 International.

Changes in land use and land cover (LULC) are a major concern in Ethiopia. It has a significant impact on the environment, food and feed availability, and other ecosystem services and products for present and future generations. The effects of LULC change are particularly more pronounced in the highlands of Ethiopia, where the majority of the country’s cultivated land and livestock grazing occur, and competition between different land use decisions is a major concern.

Human activities are driving wildlife population declines worldwide. However, empirical understandings of their operation and consequences for wildlife populations and habitats are limited. We explored relationships between empirical and perceived wildlife and livestock population trends in Kenya using data on i) aerial monitoring of wildlife and livestock populations during 1977-2018, ii) human population censuses; and iii) semi-structured interviews with 338 male and female respondents from 250 households from four zones of the Greater Maasai Mara Ecosystem in 2019 and 2020.