Erasmus+, EU
Interreg Europe: Public-private governance of rivers and wetlands restoration and conservations as blue-green infrastructure (RIWET)
December 16, 2024
Superhero Birds: 4 amazing facts about the ecosystem services birds provide
January 25, 2025
With the support of:
The duration of the project:
12.2024 – 11.2026
Partners:
Background:
As stated in the Communication on the European Green Deal, significant steps must be taken to improve cross-sectoral cooperation. 60% of Europe’s land is privately owned, and 26% has protected status (EEA, 2023; The Nature Conservancy, 2019). Moreover, over 50% of the European landscape is under agricultural production (Batáry et al., 2015). Implementing the EU’s climate and biodiversity objectives will require a cross-sectoral approach beyond the nature conservation profession. European farmers are vital stakeholders in the transition to a more sustainable future. At least 40% of the Common Agricultural Policy’s budget will contribute to climate action. Among other reasons, farmers often lack the skills to meet the challenges and adapt to the new environment.
Engaging farmers to adopt nature-friendly farming methods does not work well if the communication uses scientific language and reports written for conservation professionals. Very theoretical toolkits are time- consuming to design and often not used by the targeted farmers, being too complex and over-detailed.
Although exceptions exist, most agricultural colleges and training institutes devote too little attention to combining ecology and agronomy or present this too academically. There is also a gap between agriculture and nature conservation – the two sides often need help understanding each other, leading to wasted communication efforts and avoidable conflicts. Finally, farmers feel they are constantly being criticised for ruining the environment without any positive note.
What is needed on the conservation side is to present ecology as an opportunity and a benefit, not as a grim duty or a set of prohibitions, and to appreciate it when farmers are doing actions in favour of the environment. Celebrate and publicise those farmers who are contributing to overcoming the climate and biodiversity crises, holding them up as role models.
AGRI-NATURE-MENTOR will build on practical projects and current initiatives in Ireland, the UK, Netherlands, Bavaria, Austria, Ukraine, the Mediterranean, and other EU and EU candidate countries and, from their collective experience, elaborate a Europe-wide module about how to organise and implement practical learning programmes where the farmer is central and the focus is on peer-to-peer exchanges (mentoring).
AGRI-NATURE-MENTOR is based on the working consortium of nature conservation, farmer and landowner organisations that are active in the field of education and training and connected through the Eurosite Agriculture Biodiversity and Climate (ABC) Working Group.
Overal objective:
The project will respond to the need for specifically designed training materials for the project target groups (nature conservationists and farmers) that are adapted to the newest challenges in land management and to the preferred methods of learning of the target groups.
The project’s long-term objectives are:
– Support the cross-sectoral cooperation between nature conservation, farming and landowner
organisations active in education and training and open up to new actors engaging in nature
conservation work.
– Support the learning needs of the target audiences of the project – nature conservationists,
farmers and landowners.
– Increase the participation of adults in learning and training activities.
– Address the training needs in countries most challenged by climate and biodiversity
emergencies.
– Enable transformation and change within the organisations in the main sectors crucial for
meeting Europe’s biodiversity and climate goals.
Funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or EACEA. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
