Case Study Areas

Grassland landscapes in the Alpine regions of Austria and South Tyrol exhibit significant differences due to factors such as elevation, climate, land ownership, and management practices. Classified by elevation, they include the lower-lying colline-montane zones as well as the higher-lying subalpine zones. Extensively managed pastures extend across various altitudinal zones and harbor different habitat types, including those listed in the Habitats Directive (FFH Directive). The high-alpine zones are characterized by alpine meadows and rocky habitats, which differ in terms of their substrate (calcareous, siliceous, or mixed). The intensification of lower-elevation areas on the one hand and the abandonment of higher-elevation areas on the other are leading to the marginalization of grasslands, manifested as a loss of ecological functions and an increase in scrub encroachment and afforestation.

A cross-border case study makes it possible to analyze and comparatively examine the role of the institutional framework within similar biogeographic and biocultural Alpine landscapes. In Austria, the Enns Valley in the Liezen region of Styria is being studied, and in South Tyrol, the upper Vinschgau Valley between Schluderns and St. Valentin.

The Kiskunság area features diverse grasslands, tree plantations, and small farms, with rapid land-use changes affecting grasslands and wetlands. The main grassland types are dry sand grasslands, salt steppes, and wet meadows. Conservation efforts, like by the Kiskunság National Park, struggle to manage the many small-scale land-use changes initiated by local users, partly because of divergent future objectives and values towards nature, and rigid formal institutions. Decreasing groundwater and the rapidly changing regulatory environment threaten biodiversity, but local and traditional ecological knowledge remains vital for grassland preservation.

Trundholm Mose, which is a part of UNESCO Geopark Odshered in north-western Zeland was selected. The area consists of parts with retired croplands converted to seminatural areas, also with grasslands. Both within and outside Trundholm Mose we will evaluate different stakeholders’ perspectives on grazing systems, and ongoing rewilding.

Grassland ecosystems in Central Kazakhstan are influenced by multi-sectorial land use, threatening the conservation of umbrella species such as Saiga antelope and various avian fauna. Societal transformations that took place in Kazakhstan over the 20th century, from a feudalistic colonial society to a socialist country and more recently to a market economy, have led to significant changes in social norms and formal institutions including property rights. Vast areas of grasslands are still in common property. They are often less rigorously protected by legislation than croplands and have been subject to substantial fragmentation and degradation due to non-agricultural land uses, legal and illegal construction, oil extraction, and the creation of formal and informal roads, and other peculiar but massive land uses, such as military and nuclear polygons.