Farmer Involvement Key in Developing Effective Biodiversity Strategies

Researchers from the University of Exeter wrote in The Conversation about how the Burren Life project in Ireland is involving farmers in developing effective strategies to promote biodiversity on agricultural lands. The authors explain why incentive programs aimed at changing farmer behavior often fail to achieve long-term success: because they fail to acknowledge farmers’ understanding of their land and monitor the success of required activities. The Burren Life project offers a model for success because farmers and scientists worked together to co-design environmental targets, and the farmers choose the activities they wish to undertake to improve conditions on their own land. Yearly re-evaluations involve farmers in monitoring their own success and that of other participating farmers. This model utilizes farmers’ valuable on-the-ground knowledge and led to long-term behavior change and major changes in habitat quality, the authors say.