Does conservation status influence the temporal development of agriculturally used permanent grassland in Germany?

摘要

The preservation of grassland is an intensely disputed topic in the EU, in general, and in Germany, in particular. Preservation of grassland is topical mainly for two reasons: the protection of abiotic resources (e.g. erosion) and the preservation ofspecies rich grasslands. Both reasons are addressed by the Greening of the Common Agricultural Policy. We analyse how the share and area of agriculturally used grassland evolved between 2010 and 2015 in dependence of the area's legal status and relevancefor certain environmental aspects. The analysed categories are nature reserves ('Naturschutzgebiet'), sitesofcommunity importance (SCI), designated floodplains and grassland on organic soils. We use data of the Integrated Accounting and Control Systems from five German Federal States. Since 2014, the areaof agricultural used permanent grassland increased in all investigated categories. In addition, in nature reserves and SCIs the share of permanent grassland managed organically is more than three times higher compared to normal landscapes.