BioMonitor4CAP is a research project aiming to develop advanced biodiversity monitoring to show which agricultural practices and policies work best at conserving farmland biodiversity. Twenty-three partner organisations from 10 European countries and Peru participatein this project funded through the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.
Agriculture covers around half of the European terrestrial land surface, and intensive agricultural land-use is one of the major drivers affecting habitat and species diversity in agricultural landscapes. The EU 2030 Biodiversity and Farm to Fork Strategies aim to halt biodiversity loss while ensuring human well-being. Yet, it is unclear if and how these strategies will be efficiently implemented, as there is currently no results-based monitoring of progress.
More efficient and representative strategies are required to monitor biodiversity and its loss or recuperation through space and time.
The BioMonitor4CAP project will test, validate and develop affordable and reliable biodiversity monitoring systems that work both on farmland and in Natura 2000 sites by combining classical biodiversity indicator systems with technology-driven approaches such as acoustic, optical or molecular approaches. The project will develop predictive response models to recommend appropriate changes in land management to improve on-farm biodiversity. “Such biodiversity monitoring systems are needed to implement result-based policies in European agricultural landscapes”, say Dr. Nils Borchard, DLG (German Agricultural Society) and Prof. Christoph Scherber, LIB (Leibniz Institute for the Analysis of Biodiversity Change).
The project will involve multiple stakeholder groups to ensure successful implementation of newly developed biodiversity monitoring systems.
Food4Sustainability will contribute to the development of comprehensive and reliable workflows for systematic biodiversity monitoring and will ensure implementation of experimental and demonstration trials to support agricultural transformation in the European Union and beyond.
