The Center of Excellence for Sustainable Land Use (FutureScapes)

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Introducing adaptive community based biodiversity management in urban areas for improved connectivity and ecosystem health (urbanLIFEcircles)

Introducing adaptive community based biodiversity management in urban areas for improved connectivity and ecosystem health (urbanLIFEcircles)

Duration: 2022-2027

The urbanLIFEcircles project demonstrates a systematic approach for how to lead a biodiversity-oriented change in urban nature management. It brings together a consortium of lighthouse cities Tartu (EE), Aarhus (DK) and Riga (LV), with the aim of improving city wide biodiversity management for restored connectivity and improved ecosystem health. We plan to improve the support for biodiversity in these cities through habitat restoration and increased citizen awareness. Additional support for urban biodiversity comes from the governance level, by setting up necessary strategic approach and integrating biodiversity goals to practical procedures. We envision a continuous interconnected wildlife habitat in each city that starts from peri-urban nature reserves and reaches throughout the cities, connected through green corridors and a network of high-nature value connectivity “stepping stones”. In this vision, urban citizens are seen as part of the urban ecosystem, participating in restoration activities and benefitting from ecosystem services offered by these “urban LIFE circles”. We have set ambitious objectives to achieve this by: (I) engaging communities in cities to actively participate in conservation; (II) assisting businesses towards developing necessary products & services supporting biodiversity in cities; (III) establishing synergies for biodiversity-oriented governance and management; (IV) deploying science-based methods for the adaptive management. All this builds a sufficient baseline, so it is possible to (V) demonstrate with concrete actions and practical examples that the system change for biodiversity is possible in cities. We plan to build on existing best practices on both urban biodiversity conservation as well as participatory urban governance. Our cities have varying challenges and different capacity in biodiversity matters, making the solutions we develop, demonstrate and propose applicable in most urban areas in Europe.

Project participants: Aveliina Helm, Elisabeth Prangel, Polina Degtjarenko, Oliver KaldaLiis Kasari-Toussaint

Funding: Environmental Investment Center, European Commission

Project description in ETIS

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Large-scale restoration of calcareous grasslands, implications for biodiversity

Large-scale restoration of calcareous grasslands, implications for biodiversity

Duration: 2019 january - 2021 april

Project focuses on impacts of large-scale grassland restoration on biodiversity, ecosystem functioning and provision of ecosystem services. This is a follow-up to the project carried out in 2015-2017, during which the pre-restoration status of grassland biodiversity was recorded. Current project aims to 1) describe the post-restoration status of important species groups; 2) analyze the impacts of large-scale restoration activities on biodiversity, ecosystem services and ecosystem functions; 3) compile the guidelines for landscape-scale restoration of Estonian grasslands, considering the impact of different restoration actions on biodiversity. Results of the project are important for organizing the conservation and restoration of semi-natural grasslands.

Project participants: Aveliina Helm, Tsipe Aavik, Liis Kasari, Triin Reitalu, Elisabeth Prangel

Funding: Environmental Investment Centre

Project information in Estonian Research Information System

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LIFE IP project "ForEst&Farmland"

Comprehensive management of forest and farming landscapes to improve the conservation status of Natura 2000 habitats and species

Duration: 2020 January - 2029 December

The project is developed to tackle different conservation challenges that influence the values of Estonian most diverse ecosystems. Estonia is a sparsely populated country with vast territories covered with forests, wetlands and arable land, and where the historic land use has resulted in heterogenic and diverse landscapes. Socio-economic situation is changing – Estonia has been rapidly developing and rural areas face new challenges, mainly intensifying management due to different reasons that takes place both in forest and farming landscapes. The project will focus on forests and arable land with high biodiversity, this includes seminatural grasslands, fields, pastures and other types of arable land and a range of different forest ecosystems. The practices and methodologies to be developed and tested in the project will be of high demonstration value also for other regions and countries of the EU. 

In this project, our workgroup is involved with the sustainable management of semi-natural grasslands and ensuring the biodiversity in agricultural landscapes. Together with our partners, we will help launch a councelling system for semi-natural grasslands, restore grasslands and help with communication. In agricultural landscapes, we will create sample areas where crop yield and biodiversity are guaranteed thanks to science-based agroecological approaches. Together with farmers, we will test which agricultural practices are most effective in Estonia. We will work closely together with BirdLife to monitor the effectiveness of agri-environmental measures.

Project participants: Aveliina Helm, Tsipe Aavik, Marianne Kaldra, Rufus Trepp, Liis Kasari-Toussaint, Linda Pall, Kristiina Jürisoo, Remek Meel, Tanel Vahter

Partners: Ministry of the Environment (coordinator), Environmental Board, Ministry of Rural Affairs, State Forest Management Centre, BirdLife Estonia, Private Forest Centre, University of Tallinn, KEMIT

Funding: European Commission

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Landscape-scale biodiversity restoration and time-lags in ecosystem functions (RESTFUNC)

Landscape-scale biodiversity restoration and time-lags in ecosystem functions (RESTFUNC)

Duration: 2020-2024

Increasing loss and fragmentation of many valuable habitats has led to widespread loss of biodiversity and decline of ecosystem functions. Ecological restoration enables to re-create suitable conditions for species and ecosystems suffering loss of habitat, and ensure the sustainable provision of vital ecosystem services. Restoration has mostly focused on re-creation of suitable environmental conditions and has paid considerably less attention to the importance of incorporating landscape-scale effects for achieving restoration success. There is also a considerable lack of knowledge regarding potential time-lags influencing the recovery of biodiversity and ecosystem functions, including important biotic interactions. In RESTFUNC, we will identify local and landscape-scale factors that are needed to consider when planning ecological restoration, study how to buffer and mitigate lags in ecosystem functions, and how to ensure landscape multifunctionality under changing land-use and climate. One of the first results of the project is the greenmeter (rohemeeter), which helps to assess the biodiversity of landscapes.

Project participants: Aveliina Helm, Krista Takkis, Triin Reitalu, Liis Kasari, Elisabeth Prangel, Linda Pall

Funding: Estonian Research Council (ETAg)

Project information in Estonian Research Information System

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Conservation of natural biodiversity in agricultural land

Conservation of natural biodiversity in agricultural land

Duration: 2019 March - 2020 September

In addition to nature reserves, biodiversity should be preserved elsewhere. For instance, agricultural landscapes contain biodiversity that should be preserved. One of the aims of this project is to bring together information on effective activities and practices that help preserve the natural biodiversity of Estonian agricultural landscapes. It also gives an overview of the different performance-based support schemes tested in Europe and proposes a concept for paying performance-based semi-natural habitat support on the basis of community status and biodiversity indicators. In order to achieve these aims, an easily understandable overview about the biodiversity conservation activities in agricultural landscapes and input for the development of result-based semi-natural habitat support will be provided. In addition, overviews of the impact of different management regimes on permanent grassland biota and farmers' and landscape caretakers' expectations about the result-based habitat support will be done. The project is being carried out in cooperation with the Macroecology workgroup.

Project participants: Aveliina Helm, Tsipe Aavik, Elisabeth Prangel, Krista Takkis, Rufus Trepp, Kersti Riibak

Funding: Ministry of Rural Affairs

Final report of the project (in Estonian)