A programme backed by around €12.9 million of funding from German government agencies for boosting biodiversity on agricultural land has expanded to another state.

Saxony in the east of the country has joined the states of Baden-Wurttemberg, Brandenburg, and Hesse taking part in the programme, which launched in January, said Juila Vogel, who manages the project for WWF Germany.

The scheme, known as Kombi, aims to develop methods for improving conservation measures that can inform policy at national and EU level, Vogel told Carbon Pulse.

The five-year initiative for collective models for promoting biodiversity aims to get farmers and conservationists working together to create tailor-made projects.

“These could include planting flower strips with wild plants as a food source, planting hedges as erosion control and a refuge for animals, or increasing habitat diversity through agroforestry,” she said.

Kombi has gathered participating states’ landscape associations. Researchers from the Leibniz Centre for Agricultural Landscape Research, University of Kiel, and University of Giessen are monitoring biodiversity improvements.

In Brandenburg, two projects have already rolled out under Kombi, with the state’s lowland moors presenting ideal ground-nesting location for birds such as lapwings, Vogel said.

“A cooperative will establish ‘bird islands’, which are not mowed in spring and protected with fences during the breeding season,” she said.

“On the sandy elevations of a plateau another cooperative will plant flowering strips of tall hemp and other energy-rich plants, which will not only reduce erosion but also provide food for small animals, birds, and insects.”

Collective implementation overseen by Kombi, including applying for funding, aims to reduce the effort and risks involved in supporting nature on farms, Sabine Riewenherm, president of the German agency for nature conservation, said in a statement.

Examples have shown that collaborative models can be successful when measures are implemented across companies, according to Steffi Lemke, minister for the environment, nature conservation, and nuclear safety in Germany.

The networking of agricultural businesses can make nature conservation measures in the region more effective, with benefits for the environment and the value of businesses, Lemke said.

By Thomas Cox – t.cox@carbon-pulse.com

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