Conservation of wet grassland breeding bird habitats in the Atlantic Region

The main objective of the LIFE IP GrassBirdHabitat project is improving the conservation status of wet grassland breeding birds. This includes measures that increase the breeding populations and reproduction rates in Germany and the Netherlands, and returning rates of the birds from their wintering areas in West Africa. Optimising water levels of the breeding habitats will be done on both public and private land. On private land, long-term leasing agreements will allow farmers to remain land owners and be financially compensated for increased water levels and land management for meadow nesting birds. The total project area will be around 143 000 ha. In Lower Saxony (Germany), 19 000 ha is public land, while another 2 000 ha will be acquired for bird protection through complementary funds, to enable arable land to be converted into biodiverse wet meadows. In Friesland, conservation management in two pilot areas totalling 100 ha will be used to demonstrate ecological and economic sustainability, and to motivate farmers to participate in grassland conservation. Additionally, measures to improve the quality of bird habitats will be implemented in conservation areas on 600 ha. The aim is to transfer the experience to other EU regions.